Chrispo Makheti Mutebi; Vincent Moranga
Abstract
The present study was done to determine the effect of different soil fertilities on cowpea mosaic virus disease incidence. The fertilities were; 50 kg/ha Diammonium phosphate (18.46.0), 50 kg/ha Mavuno (10.26.10) that is a mineral fertilizer that has been extensively utilized in western Kenya, ...
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The present study was done to determine the effect of different soil fertilities on cowpea mosaic virus disease incidence. The fertilities were; 50 kg/ha Diammonium phosphate (18.46.0), 50 kg/ha Mavuno (10.26.10) that is a mineral fertilizer that has been extensively utilized in western Kenya, 3 tons/ha farmyard manure (FYM), FYM/Mavuno combination with half rate of the latter at 25 kg/ha, FYM/DAP combination with half rate of the latter at 25 kg/ha and unfertilized control, all applied at planting time. Certified cowpea seed of Kenkunde variety was planted using the different fertilizers in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Percent cowpea mosaic disease incidence (DI) data was collected and analyzed through one-way ANOVA. The results of cowpea mosaic DI shown as a descriptive statistics collected from the six fertilizer treatments indicated that FYM/DAP combination had the smallest mean for DI (M = 12.55), while DAP alone had the highest DI mean (M = 33.97). Associations among groups in the ANOVA table showed that the fertilizer effects were significant (p < .005). Fisher’s LSD post-hoc tests at 5% level of confidence was used to evaluate the nature of the differences in mean DI. It was observed that 92% of the variance in DI was accounted for the type of fertilizer treatment applied. In conclusion, application of DAP combined with FYM at 25 kg/ha and 1.5 tons/ha can be helpful in lowering the cowpea mosaic virus infection in the region where this study was carried out, though these could be used with knowledge of soil reaction.Abbreviations: ANOVA, Analysis of variance; DAP, Diammonium phosphate; DI, Disease incidence; FYM, Farmyard manure; LSD, Least significant difference; KALRO, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization; NRF, National Research Fund; RCBD, Randomized complete block design; SPSS, Statistical package for social sciences
Chrispo Makheti Mutebi
Abstract
Global warming and the COVID 19 pandemic have imposed a devastating effect on life all over the world. Agriculture faces daunting challenges in the coming decades due to these two issues. The aim of this review paper is to provide pertinent information on mulberry to justify its use in building the resilience ...
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Global warming and the COVID 19 pandemic have imposed a devastating effect on life all over the world. Agriculture faces daunting challenges in the coming decades due to these two issues. The aim of this review paper is to provide pertinent information on mulberry to justify its use in building the resilience of smallholder farmers in the phase of climate change and COVID 19 pandemic. Agricultural production has been constrained by lack of sensitization about crops that could be incorporated for the dual purpose of mitigating the effects of both climate change and COVID 19. Although mulberry has a multiplicity of uses, information on its suitability for climate change mitigation and its nutraceutical potential especially during the times of COVID 19 has not been documented. In this paper the suitability of mulberry in climate change mitigation is also discussed. The paper concludes' that the resilience of mulberry against drought, its multipurpose nature as food, its medicinal properties and the extent of its effect on the environment gives it priority as a plant that could be incorporated into the farming system as a cushion against the effects of climate change on the conventional crops. Mulberry is therefore a plant that is suitable for building the resilience of smallholder farmers against climate change and COVID 19 pandemic.
Chrispo Makheti Mutebi; Davine Atieno Ondede
Abstract
Leaf spot (Cercospora moricola, Cooke) is a disease that negatively influences the yield of mulberry (Morus alba L.) plants. To determine the effect of nitrogen levels on the incidence and severity of leaf spot an experiment was carried out on mulberry plants. The nitrogen levels included 0, 100, 200 ...
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Leaf spot (Cercospora moricola, Cooke) is a disease that negatively influences the yield of mulberry (Morus alba L.) plants. To determine the effect of nitrogen levels on the incidence and severity of leaf spot an experiment was carried out on mulberry plants. The nitrogen levels included 0, 100, 200 and 300 kg ha-1, which were applied in two splits coinciding with the two rainy seasons. The study design was randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Determination of disease intensity involved scoring for disease intensity on a 1-5 Manandhar scale and calculation of the disease incidence were performed by expressing the number of infected leaves as a percentage of the total number of leaves. The values were translated to area under disease progress stairs (AUDPS). The means for AUDPS were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using PRO GLM in SAS and Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD) used to partition the means at p≤0.05. The results showed that as the rate of nitrogen application was increased, there was a corresponding decrease in AUDPS for disease incidence and a decrease in AUDPS for disease severity. From the obtained results it can be concluded that nitrogen at an application rate of 200 kg ha-1 is an effective approach to suppress Cercospora leaf spot of mulberry and can be recommended to the farmers, where this disease is a problem for cultivation of mulberry.