The susceptibility of 24 winter and 17 summer crops to infection by Bipolaris sorokiniana was tested in a glass house experiment by growing them in soil amended with wheat-barley grain colonized by B. sorokiniana (0-2 g per 100 g soil). At anthesis, infection of both lessoned and randomly selected segments of roots and of crowns was determined by plating them on modified Czapek-Dox Agar. Incidence of infection in winter crops was higher than in summer crops. Guar, mung bean, soybean and sunflower were the least infected of the summer crops while chickpeas and safflower were the least infected of the winter crops. Amongst the taxonomic groups tested, the highest incidence of infection occurred in the gramineous species and the lowest in the leguminous species. Five summer crops growing in the field were sampled and infection by B. sorokiniana confirmed. Cultivars of wheat, barley, triticale and oats were also screened in a field experiment. Amongst these winter cereals, oats was the least susceptible in both field and glass house experiments. Differences between cultivars in susceptibility to common root rot, measured by the degree of lesion development in the subcrown internode, were identified in wheat, triticale and oats but not in barley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]