The effect of soil solarization on the control of soil-borne patho­gens of grain sorghum, in Upper Egypt, was studied. Solar heating grad­ually reduced most of the isolated fungi to very low levels, comparable to the non-tarped treatments. Populations of Aspergillus spp., Penicilli­ um spp. and Macrophomina phaseolina were found to increase at the end of the solarization treatment i.e. 6 months. Sorghum plant stand increased in solarized plots indicating the positive effect of soil heating on reducing numbers of propagules of soil-borne pathogens. Also, stalk-rot disease of grain sorghum could be controlled by planting the crop in solarized plots. These promising results indicate the possibility of using this method to control soil-borne diseases in Upper Egypt.