15 research outputs found
Level 2: La journée d’une fille Marocaine. / The day of a Moroccan girl.
No full textTo you young reader I dedicate this book. May it make me read, read and reread again. This book is for you from me. I give permission to Seeds of Knowledge to use it for educational purposes to promote literacy.
About the author: My name is Ri Muiru, I am from Kenya and a student at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. I study fashion. I enjoy reading, shopping and going to the movies with my family and friends.
A toi jeune lecteur je dédie ce livre. Puisse-t-il m’inciter à lire, lire et relire encore. Ce livre est pour toi de ma part. Je donne l’autorisation à l’organisme Seeds of Knowledge l’autorisation de l’utiliser à des fins pédagogiques pour promouvoir l’alphabétisation.
Au sujet de l\u27auteur: Je m’appelle Ri Muiru, je suis du Kenya et étudiante à l’universitéde Kennesaw State en Géorgie. J’étudie la mode. J’aime lire, faire des courses et aller au cinémaa vec ma famille et mes amies.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/globallib/1028/thumbnail.jp
Evaluation of Genetic Variability of Kenyan, German and Austrian Isolates of Exserohilum turcicum using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism DNA Marker
No full textEighty nine Exserohilum turcicum isolates comprising 56 Kenyan, 26 German and 7 Austrian isolates were isolated from diseased maize plants and cultured on complete liquid medium to generate mycelium for DNA extraction. DNA extraction was done following the CTAB method, DNA purified using spermidin and fingerprinting conducted using Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) procedure. NTSYSpc, pop gene and Arlequin programs were used to analyze the data and to generate the dendograms. The number of amplified bands and polymorphism varied with the different primer combinations with primer combinations E-ACA/T-CCA, E-ACA/T-CAC, E-ACA/T-CGA, E-ACA/T-CTA revealing a high (79%) level of polymorphism. Cluster analysis of the 607 polymorphic bands from these primer combinations using UPGMA algorithms generated dendograms with 7 main AFLP groups with isolates from different localities grouping together with only two outliers. Pair wise similarity matrix derived with SIMQUAL program showed a wide variation in the AFLP fingerprint of the E. turcicum isolates. Nei’s genetic distance matrix showed that the three populations of E. turcicum isolates differed genotypically with the Kenyan isolates being more genetically related to Austrian isolates (genetic identity of 0.9998) whereas the isolates from Germany and Austria were more diverse (genetic identity of 0.9978). This study showed that AFLP marker is useful in the study of genetic variation of E. turcicum and the pathogen has a high level of genetic diversity
Potato Seed Production Systems and Disease Prevalence in Major Potato Growing Regions in Kenya
No full textEvaluation of growth characteristics of selected beauveria bassiana islolates under laboratory conditions in Kenya
No full textAn evaluation of the growth characteristics of nine B. bassiana isolates was conducted under
laboratory conditions. Tests for spore concentration, viability, germination percentage,
relative hyphal growth and speed of conidial germination were done. Isolate J59 showed the
highest spore concentration of 120 and 114.2 spores per ml during the first and second assay
respectively. Isolate J57 had the most viable number of spores in both assays. The highest
germination percentage of over 80% was recorded for isolate J57. The relative hyphal
growth was highest for the isolateRI under 6 days after inoculation followed closely by
isolate J57 in both assays. In all the observed days, isolates BBC and BVT recorded the
lowest relative hyphal growth but highest conidial germination at 2 to 10 hours after
inoculation. Evaluation of growth is an important prerequisite for evaluation when
considering the B. bassiana isolates for control of storage pests
Livelihoods under Climate Variability and Change: An Analysis of the Adaptive Capacity of Rural Poor to Water Scarcity in Kenya’s Drylands
No full textConstraints of rehabilitating degraded semi-arid lands of Kenya using indigenous perennial grasses
No full textLand degradation which among others include loss of vegetation is rampant in Kenya, destroying both the fragile arid and semiarid lands and the non-arid areas. Efforts to rehabilitate semiarid areas by re-vegetation has often failed. This study was carried out to determine factors responsible for these failures. The study was conducted in the semi-arid district of Kibwezi. Three (3) grass species Cenchrus ciliaris, Enteropogon macrostachyus and Eragrostis superba were used for revegetating the land, while agro-pastoralists in the area were interviewed through questionnaires to get their perceptions on the failures of reseeding. Low rainfall, poor seed quality, lack of enough seed, flush floods, destruction by grazing animals were found to be factors limiting the success of reseeding
Inheritance of resistance to maize lethal necrosis in tropical maize inbred lines
No full textMaize (Zea mays L.) production in sub-Saharan Africa can be improved by using hybrids with genetic resistance to maize lethal necrosis (MLN). This study aimed to assess the general (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA), reciprocal effects, and quantitative genetic basis of MLN resistance and agronomic traits in tropical maize inbred lines. A total of 182 hybrids from a 14-parent diallel, along with their parents, were evaluated under artificial MLN inoculation and rainfed conditions for 3 years in Kenya. Disease ratings at four time points, grain yield (GY), and other agronomic traits were analyzed using Griffing’s Method 3 and Hayman’s diallel models. Significant (P < 0.001) GCA and SCA mean squares were observed for all traits under disease conditions and most traits under rainfed conditions, highlighting the importance of both additive and non-additive genetic effects. However, additive gene action predominated for all traits. Narrow-sense heritability estimates for MLN resistance (h2 = 0.52–0.56) indicated a strong additive genetic component. Reciprocal effects were not significant for MLN resistance, suggesting minimal maternal or cytoplasmic inheritance. Four inbred lines showed significant negative GCA effects for MLN resistance and positive GCA effects for GY under artificial MLN inoculation. Inbred lines CKL181281 and CKL182037 (GCA effects for MLN4 = -0.45 and -0.24, respectively) contained the most recessive alleles for MLN resistance. The minimum number of groups of genes involved in MLN resistance was estimated to be three. Breeding strategies that emphasize GCA could effectively be used to improve MLN resistance in this germplasm
Challenges and Opportunities in Cassava Production among the Rural Households in Kilifi County in the Coastal Region of Kenya
No full textIn Kenya, food security and poverty alleviation are some of the most important factors that the country must address in order to achieve the vision 2030. Cassava has potential not only as food for humans, but also as feed for livestock and as a substrate for biofuel production. Although various constraints have been reported to afflict farmers in cassava production, a base line survey in the study sites (Kilifi and Kaloleni) was necessary to identify specific constraints facing farmers in this region so as to identify areas of intervention in production and utilization. Lack of disease free planting materials was identified as one of the major constraints since cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and the cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) pose serious threats in yield losses. The two diseases are transmitted by vectors and by diseased planting materials and almost all the farmers obtain their planting materials from their neighbours thus aiding in disease dissemination and compounding the problem. There is need to enable the community produce quality cassava seed and operate sustained cassava business, integrate legumes into cassava cropping systems and create an innovative value addition chain for utilization of cassava. Eighty percent of Kenya is marginal area and cassava being drought tolerant can enable the potential of these areas to be tapped thus helping to deal with the persistent food insecurity which is a common feature in these areas. Key words: Cassava, cowpeas, cultivars, production constraints, utilizatio
Evaluation of resistance reaction of maize germplasm to common foliar diseases in Kenya
No full textUse of resistance varieties is the most practical method of managing crop diseases. There is a great variation in terms of resistance reaction to diseases among the various maize germplasm and with the liberization of seed market, the sector has witnessed proliferation of massive introduction of new varieties whose reaction to diseases cannot be ascertained. This study was conducted to evaluate the reaction of maize varieties to northern leaf blight (NLB), common maize rust, gray leaf spot (GLS) and maize streak disease (MSD). The experiment was conducted at Kabete Field Station, University of Nairobi for two seasons namely short rains and long rains. The germplasm was bought from the commercial seed stockists and the landraces obtained from KARI Katumani and from farmers. The diseases were assessed by monitoring and scoring for disease incidence and severity. The appropriate scoring keys were used for determination of disease severity. All the varieties showed symptoms of the four diseases in both seasons but the intensity of the diseases differed significantly among the different varieties. Disease incidence was highest for common rust with a mean of 14.29% for the variety DH04, while disease incidence was highest (19.21%) for northern leaf blight in season two for Kinyanya which is a landrace. Gray leaf spot and the common smuts had the lowest mean incidence ranging from 0 to 0.25% for common smut and 0 to 2.6% for gray leaf spot. Season two had comparatively higher disease incidence means compared to season one. Meteorological data showed that season two had more rains and this explains the reasons behind this. Though all the varieties screened were found to be affected by the diseases to various levels, the varieties displayed significant differences in the disease incidence and severity. This shows that use of resistance varieties should be considered in the management of maize diseases. Focus should also be on pyramiding genes for resistance in the breeding programmes to develop varieties with multiple resistance to different diseases. Key words: Disease incidence and severity, disease score, symptoms, varietie
Genetic diversity of local and introduced cassava germplasm in Burundi using DArTseq molecular analyses
No full textIn Burundi most small-scale farmers still grow traditional cassava landraces that are adapted to local conditions and have been selected for consumer preferred attributes. They tend to be susceptible, in varying degrees, to devastating cassava viral diseases such as Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) and Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) with annual production losses of US$1 billion. For long term resistance to the disease, several breeding strategies have been proposed. A sound basis for a breeding program is to understand the genetic diversity of both landraces and elite introduced breeding cultivars. This will also assist in efforts to conserve landraces ahead of the broad distribution of improved varieties which have the possibility of replacing landraces. Our study aimed at determining the genetic diversity and relationships within and between local landraces and introduced elite germplasm using morphological and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. A total of 118 cultivars were characterized for morphological trait variation based on leaf, stem and root traits, and genetic variation using SNP markers. Results of morphological characterization based on Ward’s Method revealed three main clusters and five accessions sharing similar characteristics. Molecular characterization identified over 18,000 SNPs and six main clusters and three pairs of duplicates which should be pooled together as one cultivar to avoid redundancy. Results of population genetic analysis showed low genetic distance between populations and between local landraces and elite germplasm. Accessions that shared similar morphological traits were divergent at the molecular level indicating that clustering using morphological traits was inconsistent. Despite the variabilities found within the collection, it was observed that cassava germplasm in Burundi have a narrow genetic base
