The lack of a standardized visual method may lead to inaccurate estimative of severity and wrong conclusions. The objective of this research was to develop a diagrammatic scale to assess the severity of septoria leaf spot in sunflower, caused by Septoria helianthi. A diagrammatic scale with five levels of disease severity (2; 12; 26; 48; and 71%) was developed and validated to assess septoria leaf spot in sunflower. The scale was developed considering the maximum limit of disease severity observed in the field and the intermediate values followed logarithmic increments according to the "Stimulus Law by Weber-Fechner". Initially the estimates of severity were performed without the use of the scale in 30 leaves with different levels of severity. Validation was carried out by eight appraisers, without previous practice in assessing septoria leaf spot in sunflower. Then, the appraisers estimated the severity of the same leaves previously assessed using the proposed diagrammatic scale. Assessments with the diagrammatic scale were of great precision for all raters and did not constitute systematic mistakes in overestimating or underestimating the disease severity. The proposed diagrammatic scale was considered adequate to estimate septoria-leaf-spot severity in sunflower.
leaf spot; phytopatometry; Septoria helianthi
