Sunflower Head Rot Diseases: Botrytis Head Rot and Bacterial Head Rot

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Sunflower is the fourth most produced vegetable oil worldwide and is ranked fifth of the 13 cultivated crops of major importance to global food security (FAO 2022; Hajjar and Hodgkin 2007; Seiler et al. 2018). Sunflower is affected by many economically-important and yield-limiting diseases, and this article is the first of an anticipated series of Plant Health Progress - Diagnostic Guides on significant heads diseases of sunflower. This follows a similar series of Plant Health Progress - Diagnostic Guides on sunflower stem diseases (Harveson et al. 2018, Ryley et al. 2021). Here we present information on Botrytis head rot and Bacterial rots, while information on Rhizopus head rot, Sclerotinia head rot, and the Phomopsis/Diaporthe head rots is anticipated in the near future. Botrytis head rot caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers. can be a common and significant disease in favorable environments while bacterial rots usually occur opportunistically and sporadically resulting in limited yield loss. In this paper, we concentrate on providing information to identify and distinguish these diseases, a comprehensive review of methods and techniques for working with the causal pathogens, and emphasizing the importance of disease cycles for identification and management.