Microorganisms of Striga hermonthica in Northern Ghana with Potential as Biocontrol Agents

Field assessment of Fusarium oxysporum based mycoherbicide for control of Striga hermonthica in Nigeria

“…This method was found to permit proper positioning of the mycoherbicide in the immediate environment for effective control and allowed for a uniform inoculation of the field. Similarly, Abbasher et al (1995), Ciotola et al (1995) and Kroshcel et al (1996) reported the use of 3-10 g of inoculum of Fusarium isolates applied at pre-sowing to be effective in Striga infestation reduction. We found this method to be most suitable, simple and effective in field conditions.…”

Tissue specific reactions of sorghum roots to the mycoherbicideFusariumoxysporumf. sp.strigaeversus the pathogenicF. proliferatum

“…It was isolated from Cymbidium hybrid, leaf spot by H. Nirenberg, IMB 11679 (Schulz) in 'Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Germany' (German collection of microorganisms and cell cultures) and stored under accession number DSMZ 62261. Foxy 2 was isolated in North Ghana by Abbasher et al (1995) from diseased Striga hermonthica plants and taxonomically identified in Berlin, Germany by the Federal Biological Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry, where it is deposited under accession number BBA-67547-Ghana. The cultures of the two species were maintained/stored on Special Nutrient poor Agar (SNA) (Nirenberg 1976) with 5% (v/v) glycerol at (408C at the institute of Plant Production and Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.…”

“…strigae Foxy 2 (Abbasher, Kroschel, and Sauerborn 1995) used for the control of Striga hermonthica which is considered as one of the major challenges to the production of sorghum (de Groote 2007;Ejeta 2007) and therefore, a threat to food security. Greenhouse experiments have revealed that Foxy 2 is effective and specific to S. hermonthica causing a reduction in Striga germination of up to 83% (Elzein and Kroschel 2004).…”

Striga

“…This has provided the smallholder farmers with a diversity of options to control the parasites. Several researchers have extensively documented these potential options to combat Striga which have been classified into the most commonly used terms: cultural and mechanical control options including hand-pulling, crop rotation, trap-cropping, intercropping, appropriate improvement of soil fertility, and planting methods (Berner et al, 1995;Kuchinda et al, 2003;Hess and Williams, 1994;Hess and Dodo, 2004;Samake et al, 2006;Gworgwor, 2007;Khan et al, 2002Khan et al, , 2006Khan et al, , 2008Eltayb et al, 2013;Hooper et al, 2015); chemical control method such as application of chemical herbicides Kanampiu et al, 2007a;Kanampiu et al, 2007b) and biological control approaches using the pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum as a mycoherbicide, or insects (Abbasher et al 1995(Abbasher et al , 1998Kroschel et al 1996;Marley et al, 1999Marley et al, , 2005Hess et al 2002;Elzein and Kroschel, 2004;Yonli et al, 2006;Zahran, 2008;Venne et al, 2009;Zarafi et al, 2015;Watson, 2013). Recently, the potential of the plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) of the genus Bacillus (B. subtilis, B. amyloliquefaciens) and Burkholderia (B. phytofirmans) as Striga biocontrol agent has been surveyed by Mounde (2014).…”