Effect of farming practices on the occurrence of scab of wheat and its management through cultivar resistance
Abstract
223 words
A survey was carried out in Nakuru and Narok Counties at hard dough stage and at harvest.
A semi structured questionnaire was used to collect information on wheat production practices.
Fusarium head blight incidence and severity in each farm were determined. Fusarium spp.
were isolated from kernels at harvest by plating on low strength potato dextrose agar modified
with minerals and antibiotics. The fungi were identified based on their morphological and
cultural characteristics. Host resistance was determined and the area under disease progress
curve (AUDPC) was calculated. Majority of the farmers in the two Counties were small
scale who rotated wheat with maize or grew wheat in the same fields in consecutive years.
The prevalence of FHB in the two Counties was 100%. F. tricinctum and F. poae were the
most common Fusarium spp. in wheat kernels sampled from Narok at harvest while the
corresponding species in wheat from Nakuru County were F. avenaceum and F.
graminearum. All the wheat varieties and lines tested were susceptible to F. graminearum
although the level of susceptibility differed. The study indicated that farming practices and
varieties greatly contribute to the occurrence of FHB. Therefore, there is need to promote
farming practices that would reduce sources of primary inocula for FHB; as well as undertake
breeding for resistance of wheat cultivars for better management of the disease.
Subjects
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