Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Genetics and Breeding Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #153976
Title: PENNISETUM GLAUCUM SUBSP. MONODII ACCESSIONS WITH STRIGA RESISTANCE IN WEST AFRICA

Author
item Wilson, Jeffrey - Jeff
item HESS, D - ICRISAT MALI
item HANNA, W - UNIV OF GA
item KUMAR, K - ICRISAT NIGER
item GUPTA, S - ICRISAT NIGERIA

Submitted to: Crop Protection
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2004
Publication Date: 9/1/2004
Citation: Wilson, J.P., Hess, D.E., Hanna, W.W., Kumar, K.A., Gupta, S.C. 2004. Pennisetum glaucum subsp. monodii accessions with striga resistance in west africa. Crop Protection 23:865-870.

Interpretive Summary: Striga hermonthica is a weed that parasitically attaches onto the roots of crop plants such as pearl millet, sorghum, and corn. It is wide-spread in sub-Saharan Africa, and can cause significant grain losses in regions that are characterized by already low crop yields. Pearl millet is primarily cultivated under the poorest growing conditions by farmers who rely on pearl millet for their subsistence. Cultivars with genetic resistance would be able to provide farmers a means of controlling this parasitic weed. No resistance has ever been identified in cultivated pearl millet, so a collection of wild pearl millets were evaluated. After conducting seven trials at four locations in three West African countries, four accessions with resistance were identified. The resistance of these accessions can be transferred to improved pearl millet varieties to reduce grain losses caused by striga in West Africa.

Technical Abstract: Resistance to the hemi-parasitic weed Striga hermonthica was evaluated in 274 Pennisetum glaucum subsp. monodii accessions in four trials in Mali and Niger from 1997 to 1998. Seventy five accessions were selected from that collection for evaluation in three additional trials in Niger and Nigeria in 2000, and evaluated for maximum number of emerged striga per host plant. Mean striga per plant ranged from 0.2 to 14.9 across the seven trials, and from 0.8 to 8.8 for the 75 selected accessions. Regression analysis of accession mean within a trial vs. trial mean identified 11 accessions with stable resistance (intercepts and slopes not different from zero, P>0.05) over all trials. Nine accessions were classified as resistant (mean = 0, P>0.05) by least squares means calculated from covariance analysis in which downy mildew incidence (caused by Sclerospora graminicola), heading date, and days to striga emergence were significant covariates (P<0.01). Four accessions (PS 202, PS 637, PS 639, and PS 727) were classified as resistant by both regression and covariance analyses, and are likely to be sources of stable striga resistance for cultivated pearl millet in West Africa. In addition to its striga resistance, PS 202 also expressed downy mildew resistance at all locations (mean incidence = 0.8%), in contrast to the three other accessions which were susceptible, with incidence > 83%.