The trays were watered every other day. The
experiment was replicated four times with 10 seedlings/
replicate. At 15 days after sowing (DAS) the sprouting of
seeds and emergence of the seedlings were delayed in the
infested soil. The seedling mortality was 100% in trays that
contained 5% and 10% of R. solani inoculum. Infected plant
parts were collected and plated on PDA plates, on PDA it
produced macroscopic dark brown sclerotia which were
irregular in shape and mycelia were sparse and fleecy which
revealed the presence of R. solani, and was correlated with the
observation of Castro et al. (1983). To locate R. solani in different
seed tissues, the component plating method was adopted, the
pathogen was detected in all the seed components viz., seed
coat (7–69%), endosperm (2.5–41%) and cotyledon (2–29%)
indicating the internal and external seed-borne nature of the
pathogen. Although the pathogen was previously reported
from sunflower across the world, the present study clearly
demonstrated the seed-borne nature and re-establishment of
R. solani which causes root and collar rot of sunflower, and is
now reported for the first time in India.