Napier grass smut and stunt resistance ASARECA Project 06/RC01-FC-2-02 (LFP PRJ 12) A partnership approach to mitigate the effects of Napier diseases on smallholder dairy Presented at the ASARECA/ILRI Workshop on Mitigating the Impact of Napier Grass Smut and Stunt Diseases, Addis Ababa, June 2-3, 2010

Napier grass is grown extensively in Kenya and Uganda by smallholder farmers as feed for stall fed dairy cows

Napier grass smut and stunt both severely reduce plant biomass production. This is limiting feed availability for smallholder farmers Napier grass smut Napier grass stunt

Effect of Napier grass stunt on fodder yield, Uganda 2007 2009

Surveys and collections Technical progress Uganda Kenya Tanzania

Morphological characterisation and biomass trials in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda Napier grass from national collections selected for replicate trials on basis of disease resistance, high yield and variation in morphology Napier grass characterised for morphological traits using standard protocol. Traits can be used to select clones desirable to farmers, less hairy and serrated High yielding clones identified in each national trial

Nutritional quality and molecular diversity of clones in trials in the region Near Infra Red Spectral analysis Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism analysis M57 M58 M59 M60 M61 M62 M63 M64

Disease incidence and severity to identify more disease tolerant clones Replicated trials planted with spreader rows of infected plants for field challenge for stunt Disease scored after each harvest Uganda all clones susceptible to stunt Clones showing tolerance planted for further challenge with vector Promising clones in Kenya and Tanzania

Knowledge sharing

Thank you to ASARECA and ADB for funding this work which is working to ensure that farmers have productive disease free Napier grass for their cows to help feed and support their families, while meeting ASARECA objectives: