Farmer. [Photo/www.scidev.net]
Five years since the first case of the deadly Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease was reported in Kenya in Bomet county, researchers say they are on the brink of a major breakthrough that could prove vital in containing its spread.
The scientists operating from two confined field trial sites at Kiboko in Makueni County and Naivasha in Nakuru county have expressed optimism they are on the verge of what they say could be a “short-term to medium-term solution” to containing the disease.
MLN is responsible for a sharp drop in maize yields with up to 100 percent crop loss having been reported where it has been identified.
The scientists are hopeful, some 20 materials achieved over the last three years since they embarked on the journey to solve the MLN puzzle, will soon be submitted for national performance trials at Kenya Plant and Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis) before being declared fit for release to farmers.
“In the short-term, we have concluded that some hybrids showing certain levels of resistance at about 40-50 percent will be out by the end of the year. We feel that farmers should start interacting with these materials,” International Maize and
Water Efficient Maize for Africa’s (Wema) national coordinator for Kenya Murenga Mwimali said research work started with 1,700 parent lines selected from hybrids already available in the maize seed market and subjected to artificial screening at the MLN facility in Naivasha for two seasons.
“From about one percent of the 1, 700 hybrids, we got 170 lines that showed tolerance. We repeated screening and established 20 new lines, which presented good sources of MLN tolerance that gave us a further 800 others with promising traits.
Mwimali said: “CIMMYT has developed five hybrids with good MLN tolerance under artificial inoculation, which have either been released or recommended for release in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Thirteen hybrids are currently under national performance trials in the three countries.”