Editing Common sunflower (section)

== Ecology ==
=== Threats and diseases ===
{{Main|List of sunflower diseases}}

One of the major threats that sunflowers face today is ''[[Fusarium]]'', a filamentous fungus that is found largely in soil and plants. It is a pathogen that over the years has caused an increasing amount of damage and loss of sunflower crops, some as extensive as 80% of damaged crops.<ref name="Gontcharov, SV. Antonova 2006">Gontcharov, SV. Antonova, TS. and Saukova, SL. 2006. Sunflower breeding for resistance to fusarium. Helia [accessed 14 September 2014]; 29 (45): 49–54.</ref>

[[Downy mildew]] is another disease to which sunflowers are susceptible. Its susceptibility to downy mildew is particularly high due to the sunflower's way of growth and development. Sunflower seeds are generally planted only an inch deep in the ground. When such shallow planting is done in moist and soaked earth or soil, it increases the chances of diseases such as downy mildew.

Another major threat to sunflower crops are [[broomrape]]s, a family of plants which [[parasite|parasitize]] the roots of various other plants, including sunflowers. Damage and loss to sunflower crops as a result of broomrape can be as high as 100%.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Encheva |first1=  J. |last2= Christov |first2=M. |last3= Shindrova |first3= P. |date= |title= Developing Mutant Sunflower Line (''Helianthus Annuus'' L.) By Combined Used Of Classical Method With Induced Mutagenesis and Embryo Culture Method |url= https://agrojournal.org/14/04-07-08.pdf |journal= Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science |volume= 14 |issue= 4 |pages= 397–404 |access-date=15 October 2014 }}</ref>