Abstract
Charcoal rot caused byMacrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid. damages stalk tissue and weakens stalk strength, leading to lodging of crop and loss in grain yield in sorghum. In an attempt to understand the pathogenicity byM. phaseolina in relation to stalk characters and plant outputs, the effects of morphological (stalk-thickness), anatomical (bundle-number, bundle-density, and vascular tissue) and physiological characters (water and soluble sugar content) of the stalks of winter sorghum genotypes on charcoal rot development were analyzed. Bundle-number and stalk-thickness had a significant influence on internal spread of charcoal rot. A thicker stalk facilitated the spread of lesions more than did a thinner one. A stalk with densely packed vascular bundles inhibited lesion advancement. Field studies with 24 winter sorghum genotypes demonstrated that most of the parameters that could improve grain and stover yield also increased the length of charcoal rot lesions. Lesion development in stalks showed a high degree of association with grain yield (R2=0.51) and 100-grain weight (R2=0.42). The rate of symptom development in stalks differed during dough and maturity stages. It was concluded that anatomical characters of sorghum stalk, especially bundle-number, along with yield parameters played an important role in determining the extent of stalk damage by charcoal rot in winter sorghum.
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