Striga is a parasitic weed that severely damages important cereal crops like sorghum in sub-Saharan Africa. It attaches to crop roots and sucks nutrients, weakening the plant. Each Striga plant can produce up to 50,000 seeds that remain dormant in soil for years. When a crop is planted, the seeds are activated and Striga germinates, severely reducing yields. INTSORMIL scientists are researching methods to help farmers control Striga and limit its spread, which is a major challenge as it can reduce crop production by 20-95% across Africa.
Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), F...Vinodkumar Patil
Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Female Moths Respond to Herbivore-Induced Corn Volatiles.
In response to herbivore attack, plants release herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) that represent important chemical cues for herbivore natural enemies. Additionally, HIPVs have been shown to mediate other ecological interactions with herbivores. Differently from natural enemies that are generally attracted to HIPVs, herbivores can be either attracted or repelled depending on several biological and ecological parameters. Our study aimed to assess the olfactory response of fall armyworm-mated female moths toward odors released by mechanically and herbivore induced corn at different time intervals. Results showed that female moths strongly respond to corn volatiles, although fresh damaged corn odors (0–1 h) are not recognized by moths. Moreover, females preferred volatiles released by undamaged plant over herbivore-induced plants at 5–6 h. This preference for undamaged plants may reflect an adaptive strategy of moths to avoid competitors and natural enemies for their offspring. We discussed our results based on knowledge about corn volatile release pattern and raise possible explanations for fall armyworm moth behavior.
Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), F...Vinodkumar Patil
Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Female Moths Respond to Herbivore-Induced Corn Volatiles.
In response to herbivore attack, plants release herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) that represent important chemical cues for herbivore natural enemies. Additionally, HIPVs have been shown to mediate other ecological interactions with herbivores. Differently from natural enemies that are generally attracted to HIPVs, herbivores can be either attracted or repelled depending on several biological and ecological parameters. Our study aimed to assess the olfactory response of fall armyworm-mated female moths toward odors released by mechanically and herbivore induced corn at different time intervals. Results showed that female moths strongly respond to corn volatiles, although fresh damaged corn odors (0–1 h) are not recognized by moths. Moreover, females preferred volatiles released by undamaged plant over herbivore-induced plants at 5–6 h. This preference for undamaged plants may reflect an adaptive strategy of moths to avoid competitors and natural enemies for their offspring. We discussed our results based on knowledge about corn volatile release pattern and raise possible explanations for fall armyworm moth behavior.
ABSTRACT- Striga is a major constraint affecting sorghum, maize, other cereal crops, sugar cane and legume crops
production in sub Saharan Africa. Striga may result in complete crop loss under the worst of conditions. Prodigious seed
production, prolonged viability of the seeds and the subterranean nature of the early stages of parasitism make the control
of the parasite by conventional methods difficult if not impossible. The increasing incidence of Striga has been attributed
to poor soil fertility and structure, low soil moisture, intensification of land use through continuous cultivation and an
expansion of cereal production. Many potentially successful approaches developed to control this weed include using
resistant/tolerant varieties, sowing clean seeds that are not contaminated with Striga seeds, rotating cereal hosts with trap
crops that induce abortive germination of Striga seeds, intercropping, applying organic and inorganic soil amendments
such as fertilizer or manure, fumigating soil with ethylene, applying post emergence herbicides, push-pull technology and
using biological control agents. Based on some studies, the interaction of tied-ridging with N fertilizer and resistant
varieties; cereal-legume intercropping and its interaction with N fertilizer revealed low Striga infestation. No single
management option has been found effective across locations and time. Hence, an integrated Striga management
approach, currently, offers the best possibility for reducing impact at the farm level.
Key Words- Intercropping, Integrated pest management, Fertilizer, Management options, Striga
This presentation only for education purpose. Any one can use this pptx file for their educational purpose. If anyone want any type of presentation , just knock me, I;ll try to help them.
Craig Yencho's presentation in the framework of the expert consultation on th...cwr_use
The expert consultation on the use of crop wild relatives for pre-breeding in potato was a workshop organized by the Global Crop Diversity Trust in collaboration with CIP and took place from the 22nd – 24th of February 2012.
Ethiopia have highly potential to produce field pea, this crops produce in Ethiopia from ancient time still now and the societies use it for different purpose such as to prepare cultural food, in household consumption and as a source of income. It is substantial crop and substitute meat nutritional value, as a source of protein. Field pea production has different constraints such as weed, disease and insect pest problems, and bruchuspisorum is major insect pest which is decline quantity of production in Ethiopia. The experiment was done at Holleta Agriculture Research center in the field condition with four replication in Completed Randomized Block Design. The objective of this study was to distinguish the exact chemical spraying time in the field to control bruchuspisorum. The variety was Adi, Wolemera, Markos and Burkitue, the chemical treatment were spraying during, early flowering, flat and full podded as recommended level, three times in every week. As a result there was significance difference between pre flowering chemical spraying time, flat podded spraying and full podded spraying time, on the number of larvae per pod (F13,18 at 0.005=11.13, p<0.0001). There was least recorded of number of larvae on per pod in full and flat pod spraying time. Even if there was no significance difference among the flat and full podded spraying time, in full podded spraying time, there was no larvae recorded totally. So in order to manage field pea bruchuspisorum in the field condition, the chemical spraying must be started from flat podded and will continued until to full podded.
1 The Next Green Revolution BY TIM FOLGER PHOTOGRAPHS.docxaryan532920
1
The Next Green Revolution
BY TIM FOLGER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CRAIG CUTLER
Modern supercrops will be a big help. But agriculture can’t be fixed by biotech alone.
Something is killing Ramadhani Juma’s cassava crop. “Maybe it’s too much water,” he says, fingering
clusters of withered yellow leaves on a six-foot-high plant. “Or too much sun.” Juma works a small plot,
barely more than an acre, near the town of Bagamoyo, on the Indian Ocean about 40 miles north of Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania. On a rainy March morning, trailed by two of his four young sons, he’s talking with a
technician from the big city, 28-year-old Deogratius Mark of the Mikocheni Agricultural Research
Institute. Mark tells Juma his problem is neither sun nor rain. The real cassava killers, far too small to see,
are viruses.
Mark breaks off some wet leaves; a few whiteflies dart away. The pinhead-size flies, he explains, transmit
two viruses. One ravages cassava leaves, and a second, called brown streak virus, destroys the starchy,
edible root—a catastrophe that usually isn’t discovered until harvest time. Juma is typical of the farmers
Mark meets—most have never heard of the viral diseases. “Can you imagine how he’ll feel if I tell him he
has to uproot all these plants?” Mark says quietly.
Juma is wearing torn blue shorts and a faded green T-shirt with “Would you like to buy a vowel?” printed
on the front. He listens carefully to Mark’s diagnosis. Then he unshoulders his heavy hoe and starts
digging. His oldest son, who is ten, nibbles a cassava leaf. Uncovering a cassava root, Juma splits it open
with one swing of his hoe. He sighs—the creamy white flesh is streaked with brown, rotting starch.
To save enough of the crop to sell and to feed his family, Juma will have to harvest a month early. I ask
how important cassava is to him.
“Mihogo ni kila kitu,” he replies in Swahili. “Cassava is everything.”
Most Tanzanians are subsistence farmers. In Africa small family farms grow more than 90 percent of all
crops, and cassava is a staple for more than 250 million people. It grows even in marginal soils, and it
tolerates heat waves and droughts. It would be the perfect crop for 21st-century Africa—were it not for
the whitefly, whose range is expanding as the climate warms. The same viruses that have invaded Juma’s
field have already spread throughout East Africa.
Before leaving Bagamoyo, we meet one of Juma’s neighbors, Shija Kagembe. His cassava fields have
fared no better. He listens silently as Mark tells him what the viruses have done. “How can you help us?”
he asks
Answering that question will be one of the greatest challenges of this century. Climate change and
population growth will make life increasingly precarious for Juma, Kagembe, and other small farmers in
the developing world—and for the people they feed. For most of the 20th century humanity managed to
stay ahead in the Malthusian race between population growth and food supply. Will w ...
ABSTRACT- Striga is a major constraint affecting sorghum, maize, other cereal crops, sugar cane and legume crops
production in sub Saharan Africa. Striga may result in complete crop loss under the worst of conditions. Prodigious seed
production, prolonged viability of the seeds and the subterranean nature of the early stages of parasitism make the control
of the parasite by conventional methods difficult if not impossible. The increasing incidence of Striga has been attributed
to poor soil fertility and structure, low soil moisture, intensification of land use through continuous cultivation and an
expansion of cereal production. Many potentially successful approaches developed to control this weed include using
resistant/tolerant varieties, sowing clean seeds that are not contaminated with Striga seeds, rotating cereal hosts with trap
crops that induce abortive germination of Striga seeds, intercropping, applying organic and inorganic soil amendments
such as fertilizer or manure, fumigating soil with ethylene, applying post emergence herbicides, push-pull technology and
using biological control agents. Based on some studies, the interaction of tied-ridging with N fertilizer and resistant
varieties; cereal-legume intercropping and its interaction with N fertilizer revealed low Striga infestation. No single
management option has been found effective across locations and time. Hence, an integrated Striga management
approach, currently, offers the best possibility for reducing impact at the farm level.
Key Words- Intercropping, Integrated pest management, Fertilizer, Management options, Striga
This presentation only for education purpose. Any one can use this pptx file for their educational purpose. If anyone want any type of presentation , just knock me, I;ll try to help them.
Craig Yencho's presentation in the framework of the expert consultation on th...cwr_use
The expert consultation on the use of crop wild relatives for pre-breeding in potato was a workshop organized by the Global Crop Diversity Trust in collaboration with CIP and took place from the 22nd – 24th of February 2012.
Ethiopia have highly potential to produce field pea, this crops produce in Ethiopia from ancient time still now and the societies use it for different purpose such as to prepare cultural food, in household consumption and as a source of income. It is substantial crop and substitute meat nutritional value, as a source of protein. Field pea production has different constraints such as weed, disease and insect pest problems, and bruchuspisorum is major insect pest which is decline quantity of production in Ethiopia. The experiment was done at Holleta Agriculture Research center in the field condition with four replication in Completed Randomized Block Design. The objective of this study was to distinguish the exact chemical spraying time in the field to control bruchuspisorum. The variety was Adi, Wolemera, Markos and Burkitue, the chemical treatment were spraying during, early flowering, flat and full podded as recommended level, three times in every week. As a result there was significance difference between pre flowering chemical spraying time, flat podded spraying and full podded spraying time, on the number of larvae per pod (F13,18 at 0.005=11.13, p<0.0001). There was least recorded of number of larvae on per pod in full and flat pod spraying time. Even if there was no significance difference among the flat and full podded spraying time, in full podded spraying time, there was no larvae recorded totally. So in order to manage field pea bruchuspisorum in the field condition, the chemical spraying must be started from flat podded and will continued until to full podded.
1 The Next Green Revolution BY TIM FOLGER PHOTOGRAPHS.docxaryan532920
1
The Next Green Revolution
BY TIM FOLGER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CRAIG CUTLER
Modern supercrops will be a big help. But agriculture can’t be fixed by biotech alone.
Something is killing Ramadhani Juma’s cassava crop. “Maybe it’s too much water,” he says, fingering
clusters of withered yellow leaves on a six-foot-high plant. “Or too much sun.” Juma works a small plot,
barely more than an acre, near the town of Bagamoyo, on the Indian Ocean about 40 miles north of Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania. On a rainy March morning, trailed by two of his four young sons, he’s talking with a
technician from the big city, 28-year-old Deogratius Mark of the Mikocheni Agricultural Research
Institute. Mark tells Juma his problem is neither sun nor rain. The real cassava killers, far too small to see,
are viruses.
Mark breaks off some wet leaves; a few whiteflies dart away. The pinhead-size flies, he explains, transmit
two viruses. One ravages cassava leaves, and a second, called brown streak virus, destroys the starchy,
edible root—a catastrophe that usually isn’t discovered until harvest time. Juma is typical of the farmers
Mark meets—most have never heard of the viral diseases. “Can you imagine how he’ll feel if I tell him he
has to uproot all these plants?” Mark says quietly.
Juma is wearing torn blue shorts and a faded green T-shirt with “Would you like to buy a vowel?” printed
on the front. He listens carefully to Mark’s diagnosis. Then he unshoulders his heavy hoe and starts
digging. His oldest son, who is ten, nibbles a cassava leaf. Uncovering a cassava root, Juma splits it open
with one swing of his hoe. He sighs—the creamy white flesh is streaked with brown, rotting starch.
To save enough of the crop to sell and to feed his family, Juma will have to harvest a month early. I ask
how important cassava is to him.
“Mihogo ni kila kitu,” he replies in Swahili. “Cassava is everything.”
Most Tanzanians are subsistence farmers. In Africa small family farms grow more than 90 percent of all
crops, and cassava is a staple for more than 250 million people. It grows even in marginal soils, and it
tolerates heat waves and droughts. It would be the perfect crop for 21st-century Africa—were it not for
the whitefly, whose range is expanding as the climate warms. The same viruses that have invaded Juma’s
field have already spread throughout East Africa.
Before leaving Bagamoyo, we meet one of Juma’s neighbors, Shija Kagembe. His cassava fields have
fared no better. He listens silently as Mark tells him what the viruses have done. “How can you help us?”
he asks
Answering that question will be one of the greatest challenges of this century. Climate change and
population growth will make life increasingly precarious for Juma, Kagembe, and other small farmers in
the developing world—and for the people they feed. For most of the 20th century humanity managed to
stay ahead in the Malthusian race between population growth and food supply. Will w ...
An investigation was carried out to know the incidence of shoot fly on sorghum during year 2018 and 2019 in Kharif season at Research farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Rohtak (India). Incidence of shoot fly was found to be higher in 15th to 30th July sown crops. It is evident from the pooled data for both the years (2018 and 2019) that the crop sown on 15th June, showed significantly lowest per cent of dead heart incidence (5.20 and 8.00 (pooled) by shoot fly at 14th and 28th days after crop emergence, respectively. Whereas, the crop sown on 30th July, 2018-19 showed significantly higher per cent of dead heart incidence i.e.,21.60 and 32.80 (pooled) at 14th and 28th days after crop emergence, respectively. Significantly, maximum yield of 10.82 q/ha was obtained in case of crop sown on 15th June, while lowest yield of 2.24 q/ha when crop sown on 30th July. As the sowing was delayed beyond 30th June the incidence increased while yield decreased significantly. In the present study, it was found as the sowing was delayed the shoot fly incidence increased and the grain yield decreased.
1. How Does Striga Infest Sorghum?<br />INTSORMIL Objective: (TO BE ADDED)<br />Introduction (DRAFT by C. Johnsen): <br />Several INTSORMIL principal investigators and projects contribute research on how to control Striga (USE FULL SCIENTIFIC NAME HERE?)—a weed that infests grain crops in Africa (AND CENTRAL AMERICA?) In this story, Alia Conley describes the devastation that Striga causes and how INTSORMIL scientists are helping farmers destroy the weed.<br />(ADD PHOTO FROM VEIK-AFRICA.)<br />Story by Alia Conley<br />NOTE TO ADVERTISING CLASS: QUESTIONS IN CAPS AND PARENTHESES STILL NEED ANSWERS IN A FUTURE EDIT.<br />Farmers hope Striga, a parasitic plant, never attacks their crops.<br />Acting like a leech, Striga steals nutrients from a host plant. Striga is deadly because of the aggressive, unique way it weakens crops directly, unlike other weeds, which compete with crops only for space, water, sunlight and nutrients. <br />Also known as “witchweed,” Striga is one of the worst enemies for cereal crops such as corn, millet, rice and sorghum, said Charles Wortmann, an INTSORMIL scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Striga works best in low-moisture climates and low soil-fertility. The weed was once a problem in the U.S., but farmers in the U.S. have mostly eradicated it, said Wortmann, who is also an associate professor of soil science at UNL. The USDA Web site says only three states in the U.S. now have a form of Striga: North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. <br />But the situation is much different in Africa. (Q: WHY? IMPRACTICAL, TOO COSTLY TO USE HERBICIDES?) where 20 to 95 percent of crops (Q: ALL CROPS? THIS IS A HUGE SPREAD) are lost due to Striga. These crops are worth about $7 billion U.S. dollars, the United Nations Development Program reports. <br />Striga spreads to sorghum crops through “contaminated seed and equipment, surface run-off, eroded soil, wind, animals and people,” according to the African Agricultural Technology Foundation. Each Striga plant can produce up to 50,000 seeds, which are tiny and easily scattered. Striga infests about 100 million hectares (Q: ACRE EQUIV.?) of field crops in sub-Saharan Africa, says a report by Gebisa Ejeta, an INTSORMIL scientist and professor of agronomy at Purdue University.<br />Striga doesn’t strike right away. The seeds can stay inactive for up to 20 years, and become active only when they sense that a sorghum root with plenty of moisture is close enough to attack. <br />The battle starts once Striga attaches itself to a sorghum root. Striga sprouts roots, sticks to the sorghum root and invades using a special tip of Striga’s root, called a haustorium. This root end helps Striga suck nutrients and resources from sorghum, like a straw. <br />Sorghum dies from Striga because the crop wastes energy by providing the weed with nutrients, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Understandably, sorghum is less productive, weaker and yields fewer seeds because Striga robs all the resources. Striga also inhibits plant height and discolors sorghum. <br /> “Most African countries have it. It’s common in Asia. It’s widely occurring in warmer areas from 25 degrees latitude or closer to the equator,” Wortmann said.<br />Farmers can catch (Q: IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN?) Striga early in its lifecycle. One sign of Striga’s presence in a sorghum field is plants that fold and wither even though they are receiving enough moisture. (Q: WHAT DO FARMERS DO THEN?) When farmers plant sorghum year after year on the same land without rotating crop types—a system called mono-cropping—Striga can attack more easily. <br />As Striga matures, yellow-green stems will emerge above ground four to seven weeks after the first attack on the sorghum, according to the Pan African Striga Control Network. The stems produce red flowers two weeks later. Numerous seed pods develop and hold 400-500 seeds. When seeds scatter, the cycle begins again. <br />“You can get quite high densities of Striga in the field,” Wortmann said. “The seed does persist for a number of seasons and a number of years so it’s a problem that’s difficult to get rid of once you have it.”<br />http://www.aatf-africa.org/userfiles/Striga-FAQ.pdf<br />http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/striga.htm<br />http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_phwitchweed.html<br />http://www.iita.org/cms/details/striga.pdf<br />http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=STRIG<br />From CJ search: <br />From UN Development Program work at UNIV of Pennsylvania<br />http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/striga.htm<br />“The parasitic weed Striga exists as several species, the common economic ones being Striga hermonthica in East and West Africa and Striga asiatica occurring in South Africa, India, and to a small extent Mid-Atlantic United States (Figures 1&3). Both attack sorghums, millet and maize, becoming the most devastating in the semi-arid tropics. The plants emerge from the soil adjacent to the host plant, produce many upright green stems with pink to white flowers. The third common species Striga gesneroides parasitises cowpeas and less often sweet potato (Figure 2) producing purple flowers and occurs largely in West Africa.”<br />“The prevalence of Striga soil infestation is steadily increasing as population pressures result in more continuous cultivation of cereal crops. In Ethiopia and elsewhere, land pressures cause farmers needing to feed their families to opt for continuous cropping of the higher yielding cereal crops without rotation or moving to other land. Again in the northern regions of Ethiopia, Striga is favoured by low soil fertility and soil moisture stress conditions (less shading by the poor growth of the host crop). This compounds the problem for the small-scale farmer who can least afford inputs on unproductive land. Infestation in some areas has reduced yields to the extent that abandonment and migration were necessary. Due to civil conflict, over-population, and droughts, farmer education and assistance programs have not been effectively applied in Ethiopia.”<br />Crop losses from on-farm studies and conservative estimates are reported (1,2,3) to be 40% for all Africa (US $7 billion), ranging from 20-95% in East Africa, 20-35% in Gambia, 10-90% with an average of 35% in Nigeria (US $250 million), and 60% in Sudan. A good method of estimating grain loss in an infested field is 3-4 kg/100 Striga plants/Ha for sorghum and 5-6 kg/100 Striga plants/Ha for maize, the lower number being used for fields or areas with less productive potential.<br />