ABSTRACT
Safflower is a multipurpose crop used initially as clothing and food dye then as a cheap substitute for saffron and now as cooking oil and in beauty and cosmetic products. The oil of safflower is used as a health supplement. The disease initiates as dark, water-soaked lesions on leaves, stems, and petioles which later develops into red-brown in color and turn necrotic with age and often develop a pale yellow margin. The pathogen overwinters in the crop residue and is carried away to the healthy plants by splashing water, aerosol movement or from contaminated seed and then enter through the natural openings and wounds causing further infection. The pathogen survives in crop debris, on alternate hosts, and on seeds. The disease is favored by warm weather, humidity and intermittent rains especially during and after flowering. The pathogen overwinters in diseased crop residue and soil in the form of oospores.
