Introduction Recent advances in biotechnology, have led to the development of novel tools that offer the promise of making plant breeding more precise and faster [9]. Thus, molecular marker techniques has proved useful in tagging resistance genes in a number of crops, including apples [2], barley [6], rapeseed [1], rice [5], sunfl ower [3], wheat [7] and other. Random amplifi ed polymorphic DNA (RAPD) have been popular for identifying markers associated with various disease resistance genes [10, 8]. The purpose of this study was to identify RAPD markers associated with resistance to Orobanche cumana Wallr. (race E). Material and methods Three groups of sunfl ower genotypes which are susceptible; tolerant and resistant to race E of Orbanche cumana Wallr, were used for DNA extraction using CTAB [4]. A total of 4 primers (OPB-10, OPA-11, OPK-17, OPA-02) were analyzed. Primers were purchased in commercially available kits from Alpha DNA (Canada). The relative molecular mass of the amplifi cation products was calculated using 100 bp molecular markers DNA Ladder (Fermentas). Results and discussions Molecular analysis of different sunfl ower genotypes showed a polymorphism between susceptible and resistant sunfl ower lines in RAPD patterns. The polymorphic marker bands specifi c to the resistant varieties were further considered as potential marker for broomrape (race E) resistance in sunfl ower. OPA-11 primer amplifi ed 3 polymorphic bands (570 pb, 850 pb, 960 pb) which were not observed in susceptible and/or tolerant lines. OPK-17 amplifi ed two polymorphic fragments (470 pb, 680 pb) at the some resistant sunfl ower genotypes. Two tested primers (OPB-10 and OPA-2) did not show polymorphism between included in this study susceptible, tolerant and resistant genotypes. Conclusions Obtained results demonstrated a polymorphism between susceptible and resistant sunfl ower lines in RAPD patterns generated with two of totally four primers used. The primers OPA-11 and OPK-17 could be used for direct and rapid screening and selection of resistant to broomrape (race E) sunfl ower lines for the purposes of breeding.