KEPHIS

1. Tackling Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) in eastern Africa through
multipronged approaches
Suresh, L. M, Yoseph Beyene, Dan Makumbi, Manje Gowda, and B.M. Prasanna.
National Conference
Plant Health for Food Security: Threats and Promises
February 1-3, 2024
Venue : ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research (IISR), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

2. MLN Phenotyping Support for Public and Private Sector
Partners
CIMMYT
64%
NARS
16%
Private
20%
MLN Phenotyping (2014 till date)
Private Partners: 17
NARES: 10
NPPO’s: 1
CGIAR: CIMMYT, IITA
Total Rows:
364,739
230,000 germplasm entries (> 364,739 rows)
screened against MLN & MCMV under artificial
inoculation at the Naivasha facility since 2014.
Heritability : 0.85 to 0.99 [ CIMMYT : 65%; NARES
: 15%; SME’s : 20%]
Impact: so far, 22 MLN resistant/tolerant hybrids
released in eastern Africa.
From less than 5 inbred lines with
tolerance/resistance to MLN in 2013, today we
have more than 50 elite and diverse
CIMMYT lines with MLN resistance.
Other NARES: TARI, RAB, ZARI, DRSS, DARS, IIAM, SSARO (South Sudan)
Other SMEs: Zamseed, Aminata, Gicheha Farms, Victoria Seeds, Rasi Seeds.
NARES
Private
Partners
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000
Bayer
Corteva
Syngenta
Seedco
Western Seeds
Advanta
EA Seeds
Kenya seed co
Other SMEs
KALRO
KEPHIS
EIAR
TARI
NacRRI
Other NARES
Rows
Partners
MLN Phenotyping Support for Public and Private
Sector Partners
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

3. Genome Editing for Resistance to MLN
Success Story
 Fine-mapping, cloning and editing the causal genomic region(s) for
MLN resistance.
 Establishing a pipeline to edit for MLN resistance in MLN-susceptible
lines that are parents of CIMMYT-derived commercial maize hybrids in
Africa.
Fine-mapping of chr.6 QTL in
several mapping populations
during 2018-2020

4. Safe germplasm exchange and distribution
Periodical surveillance in the breeding site at Kiboko from CIMMYT and KEPHIS team.
Testing every single seed entry at CIMMYT lab, Nairobi.
Testing the seeds at KEPHIS lab and getting a Phyto certificate.
After seed arrival, test the seeds again at Harare, Zimbabwe.
Growing these germplasm in quarantine facility Mazowe and testing the seeds and finally distributing to all non-endemic
countries.
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Year
Seed
Sample
tested
MCMV-free seed shipments from
CIMMYT-Kenya (2016 till date)
Field inspection
Seed testing
Seed Shipment entries from Kenya lots
Safe germplasm exchange and distribution from Kenya to other countries in ESA with following stringent practices
Scouting, Kiboko Testing, Nairobi Quarantine facility – Mazowe,
Zimbabwe

5. MLN Surveillance Overview
• MLN surveillance is done
using immunostrips.
• Commercial farms
• Seed-growing farms
• Dealer seeds
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Rwanda
Zambia
Malawi
Kenya
Ethiopia
Uganda
Zimbabwe
KSC
Tanzania
Survey Points
Countries
MLN Survillance in SSA
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

6. Capacity Building since
2016
Training conducted to various partners in SSA on
• MLN disease diagnosis and surveillance
• MLN disease diagnosis and management
• MLN Disease-free seed production steps 0
500
1000
1500
2000
Number
of
People
Countries
Capacity Building - MLN diagnosis and Management Since 2016
NPPOs Seed companies Research institutions Seed Growers
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Participants
Training to NPPO's NARES and Seed growers in Kenya
Male Female
16%
12%
8%
64%
CAPACITY BUILDING (> 5000 MEMBERS)
NPPOs
Seed companies
Research institutions
Seed Growers

7. Transboundary quarantine mechanism –
status (2023)
• During the survey, there are 32 borders, 5 ports, 6 airports, 5 testing centers, 27 checkpoints, and
2 quarantine facilities identified in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• Very few quarantine facilities (2) to tackle the maize seed movement.
• Porous borders, checkpoints, ports, and airports to handle the large volume of seeds and grain
movement.
• Less or no infrastructures (including digital) in most of the countries in ESA to handle the large
volume of seeds in ports, borders, and checkpoints.
• The present transboundary mechanism is very weak and hence there is a high probability of any
emergence of transboundary pests and diseases through seeds/grain in ESA.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Kenya Uganda Zimbabwe Zambia Total
Numbers
Country / Transboundary locations
Transboundary locations in ESA – 2023 overview
Quarantine facility
Check point and Port
Border and port
Check point
Testing Center
Airport
Ports
Borders

8. Models for predicting P&D risks and shifts due to climate change and other
factors
Study of various predisposing factors for MLN spread
including weather, seed movement, quarantine system
arrangement, host prevalence or cropping period in
selected countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.
• Highly porous borders, lack of quarantine and testing
facilities, inadequate diagnostic centers and
insufficient trained personnel, limited laboratory
facilities to handle bulk volumes of seeds and grains
observed in general
• Host prevalence and cropping period for MLN spread
Survey, and data on seed movement into and out of
target country for the last 3-4 years for understanding
on safe exchange of seeds and grains being finalized
Target Countries and Partners:
Kenya (KEPHIS), Uganda (NARO), Tanzania ( PQPS), Zambia ( PQPS), Zimbabwe
(PQSI)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Border
Points
Air Port Testing
facility
Quarantine
facility
Total
Number
Existing transboundary mechanisms
Transboundary quarantine mechanism study
Kenya
Uganda
Tazania
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Status of Transboundary quarantine
mechanism in ESA
MLN sites with Climate similarity
in Sub Saharan Africa
Weak
Strong
Moderate

9. Thank you
for your
interest!