Thirteen exotic sunflower inbred lines and eight isolates of Macrophomina phaseolina were studied to observe the genotypic variation for resistance to charcoal rot. The results indicated that significant differences exist among inbred lines for all trâits waluated. Among charcoal rot isolates, significant differences were observed for head weight only. Three inbread lines, namely, HAR 1, HAR 2 and HAR 5 had maximum head diametér and differed significantly from other inbred lines. Among the inbreds, HAR 1 and HAR 2 had maxrmum head weight, greater number of achenes per head. Hence inbred lines HAR 1 and HAR 2 were resistant/tolerant across charcoal rot isolates while HA 822 was susceptible for disease development and two charcoal rot isolates (MP 9 and MP 21) were virulent affecting head weight.