Root rot and foliar blight diseases caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG2-2 IV are serious threats for sugar beet production worldwide. Investigating the defense mechanisms of sugar beet plants to this soil borne necrotrophic fungus can be helpful for planning successful strategies to control the destructive Rhizoctonia diseases. In this study, we examined the expression of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), as the first gene in the phenylpropanoid signaling pathway, at various time points after challenge inoculation in plants treated with a defense activator (riboflavin) and control plants treated with water.

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