Development of Integrated Striga Management Package to Improve Maize Production in Western Kenya

Maize is the most important cereal in sub-Saharan Africa where it is a staple food for 50% of the population. Improved maize production in Western Kenya has been hampered mainly by Striga hermonthica, which has infested 15% of total maize production area. Athough attempts have been made to eliminate the weed, sustainability of the introduced technologies and their adoptability by farmers still remains low. Single control strategies for management of Striga have not proven to effective because the Striga seed bank in the soil is so large, jeopardising the sustainability of any stand alone technologies. The general objective of the study is to develop strategies for effective Striga management in grain-legume systems of Western Kenya. In this study, four maize varieties were used to assess the effect of Striga on maize production. The study employed 2 Striga tolerant varieties (GAF4 and KSTP 94), a susceptible variety H505 and IR maize, which is resistant to imazapyr herbicide. The experiment was carried out with four treatments. There were: 1) maize seeds coated with a Fusarium oxysporum f.sp strigae (Foxy FK3), 2) Maize seeds coated with a soluble Phosphorus based fertiliser (Gro-plus), 3) Maize seeds coated with a combination of Phosphorus fertiliser (Gro-plus) and the fungusFoxy FK3, and 4) a control where seeds were not coated. This was done for each of the four maize varieties. The maize was planted in MBILI system with soybean as intercrop. Striga density is determined by counting Striga numbers per square metre 8, 10 and 12 weeks after maize emergence. The experiment will be used to assess the effectiveness of the different strategies with respect to cost and Striga control for promotion through farmer associations in Western Kenya.