Fungal diseases of sunflower in Italy

A general description is given of the fungal diseases of sunflower crops in Italy, including their importance and diffusion in different pedoclimatic conditions. The most dangerous pathogens are: Sclerotium bataticola and Phoma sp. S.bataticola develops in hot, dry environments and Phoma sp. in cool, humid ones. Field screening has shown that there are commercial cultivars tolerant or less susceptible against the two pathogens. Other pathogens such as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea, which cause heavy damage to oil crops in the bordering countries of France and former Yugoslavia, are present in Italy sporadically. Plasmopara helianthi is no longer considered an important disease in Italy because of the introduction of resistant cultivars to the European race (race 1) and because of the introduction of legislation requiring importers to dress seeds; to date this has kept new fungal races from entering Italy.