Occurrence of Puccinia helianthi races on sunflower in Mozambique

Sunflower rust, caused by Puccinia helianthi, is common and widespread in Mozambique. Investigations conducted during 1996-1997 to gather information on the incidence and severity of rust infections in southern Mozambique indicated that the race 4 (or 700) was the predominant race in the rust population. Further surveys in 2002 revealed an increase in rust infection and the occurrence of a new race (314) identified using the new triplet coding system. Rust isolates collected in 2003 and 2004 were identified as race 314, the predominant race, whereas in 2003 only the new race 315 was recovered.