Mitigating <i>Striga hermonthica</i> parasitism and damage in maize using soybean rotation, nitrogen application, and <i>Striga</i>-resistant varieties in the Nigerian savannas

Kamara, Alpha Y.; Menkir, Abebe; Chikoye, David; Tofa, Abdullahi I.; Fagge, Aminu A.; Dahiru, Rabiu; Solomon, Reuben; Ademulegun, Temitope Damian; Omoigui, Lucky O.; Aliyu, Kamaluddin T.; Kamai, Nkeki

doi:10.1017/s0014479720000198

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The bulk of the maize is produced in the Northern region where the savannas have favourable conditions required for maize growth 3 , 4 . Major constraints to maize production in the Nigeria savannas are poor soil fertility 5 , 6 , Striga hermonthica parasitism 7 , 8 , drought and unsuitable temperatures 9 . Frequent drought and high temperatures resulting from climate variability and change negatively impact maize production in the Nigeria savannas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the use of a drought-tolerant variety as adaptation strategy for maize production under climate change in the savannas of Nigeria

Tofa

Kamara

Babaji

et al. 2021

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The Decision Support System for Agricultural Technology Transfer (DSSAT) was used to quantify the impact of climate change on maize yield and the potential benefits of the use of drought-tolerant maize variety over non-drought tolerant variety in savanna ecological zones of Nigeria. Projections of maize yields were estimated for three locations representing different agro-climatic zones and soil conditions, in the mid-century (2040–2069) and end-century (2070–2099) under representative concentration pathways scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) against the baseline period (1980–2009). Relative to the baseline period, the ensemble Global Circulation Models (GCMs) predicted significant increase in minimum and maximum temperatures and seasonal rainfall across the sites. In the mid-century, ensemble GCMs predicted temperatures increase between 1.7–2.4 °C for RCP4.5 and 2.2–2.9 °C for RCP8.5. By end-century, the temperature increases between 2.2–3.0 °C under RCP4.5 and 3.9–5.0 °C under RCP8.5. Predicted seasonal rainfall increase between 1.2–7% for RCP4.5 and 0.03–10.6% for RCP8.5 in the mid-century. By end of century, rainfall is expected to increase between 2–6.7% for RCP4.5 and 3.3–20.1% for RCP8.5. The DSSAT model predictions indicated a negative impact on maize yield in all the selected sites, but the degree of the impact varies with variety and location. In the mid-century, the results showed that the yield of the non–drought tolerant maize variety, SAMMAZ-16 will decline by 13–19% under RCP4.5 and 19–28% under RCP8.5. The projection by end-century indicates a decline in yield by 18–26% under RCP4.5 and 38–47% under RCP8.5. The yield of the drought-tolerant variety is projected to decline by 9–18% for RCP4.5 and 14–25% for RCP8.5 in the mid-century and 13–23% under RCP4.5 and 32–43% under RCP8.5 by the end-century. The higher temperatures by both emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) were primarily shown to cause more yield losses for non-drought-tolerant variety than that of the drought-tolerant variety. There will be 1–6% less reduction in yield when drought-tolerant variety is used. However, the higher yield reductions in the range of − 13 to − 43% predicted for the drought-tolerant variety by the end of the century across the study areas highlighted the need to modify the maize breeding scheme to combine both tolerances to drought and heat stresses in the agro-ecological zones of northern Nigeria.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the use of a drought-tolerant variety as adaptation strategy for maize production under climate change in the savannas of Nigeria

Tofa

Kamara

Babaji

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…Although much literature has emphasised the importance of integrated technologies involving improved crop germplasm, companion legumes, fertilizer and crop management option for control of Striga spp. (Tesfaye and Ejeta, 2011;Midega et al 2014;Randrianjafizanaka et al, 2018;Kamara et al, 2020), little attention has so far been paid to the potential contribution of rhizobial inoculants against the weed. Our study shows the potential of using rhizobial inoculants as part of integrated management to aid Striga control.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An integrated approach is required using direct and indirect measures in a concerted manner to prevent damage of parasitism, and ultimately to eradicate the seed bank (Rubiales and Fernandez-Aparicio, 2012). Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) (Vanlauwe et al, 2010), including incorporation of legumes into cropping systems (Franke et al, 2018;Vanlauwe et al, 2019;Kamara et al, 2020) can contribute to reducing Striga infection. Many leguminous crops such as cowpea can stimulate suicidal germination of seeds of Striga spp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated management of Striga gesnerioides in cowpea using resistant varieties, improved crop nutrition and rhizobium inoculants

et al. 2022

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Background Cowpea is a grain legume of major importance in sub-Saharan Africa where it is cultivated by smallholder farmers on poor soils and production is often constrained by the parasitic weed Striga gesnerioides. Method Experiments were conducted to assess the potential of rhizobium inoculation to mitigate Striga infection and increase cowpea productivity. We infested soils with S. gesnerioides and assessed the impact of treatments combining cowpea genotypes and bradyrhizobium inoculation on Striga dynamics and cowpea yield. In total, 20 cowpea genotypes were included, of which nine were resistant to Striga and 11 were susceptible. In the first experiment these were factorially combined with three inoculation options (two bradyrhizobium strains USDA3384 and IRJ2180A, and uninoculated control) in a screen-house using potted sterile soils. Second, the same trial was repeated in the field with basal phosphorus applied at sowing and a fourth treatment of fertilizer-N (urea) included testing whether N was limiting cowpea growth. The field trial also included a separate treatment with no input that served as a negative check. Result Significant genotype x treatment interactions were observed in nodule counts, Striga attachment, emergence, and cowpea shoot growth in the screen-house. There were few nodules across all cowpea lines. Striga counts were the lowest for resistant varieties with no emerged plants. Rhizobial inoculants depressed Striga counts with consistent differences across cowpea genotypes. Inoculation with IRJ2180A performed the best against Striga attachment in resistant genotypes, and against Striga emergence in susceptible genotypes. In the field trial, cowpea grown without inputs had the least number of nodules. The genotype x treatment interaction was significant: resistant cowpea genotypes were free of emerged Striga while there was much more Striga emergence without input addition with susceptible genotypes. A significant genotype x treatment interaction was observed on cowpea grain yield. Yield response to inoculation was clearest with resistant genotypes inoculated with the strain IRJ2180A. Conclusion The integrated use of Striga-resistant cowpea lines, basal phosphorus fertilizer and elite bradyrhizobium inoculants is a promising approach to mitigate Striga infection and increase cowpea productivity.

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“…The practice of crop rotation (Kamara et al, 2020) and intercropping (Lado & Kamara, 2015) involving non-host leguminous crops were reported to reduce Striga incidence.…”

Section: Spatial Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial modelling indicates Striga seedbank density dependence on rainfall and soil traits in the savannas of northern Nigeria

et al. 2023

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Striga is one of most notorious weeds devastating crop production in the dry savannas of northern Nigeria. The weed attacks most cultivated cereals and legumes with crop losses as high as 100% when no control measure is employed. Studies conducted in the dry savannas of Nigeria indicated that Striga seedbank is strongly related to soil and climate properties. This study was conducted to model Striga hermonthica seedbank zones in the dry savannas of Nigeria based on soil and climate properties of the areas. Using multi‐stage spatial sampling, 169 soil samples were collected at the centroids of 25 × 25 km grids across the study area and analysed for physico‐chemical properties. The number of Striga seeds were counted from the soil samples using water elutriator and potassium bicarbonate method. Daily temperature, relative humidity and rainfall for each point were downloaded from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS). Minimum and maximum temperatures, and relative humidity were accessed from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA POWER). Thresholds of various soil and climate variables for optimum concentration of Striga seedbank were analysed using boundary line analysis (BLA). From the BLA, optimum amount of rainfall for high Striga seedbank was 549 mm per annum. While temperature has a wide suitability range for Striga seedbank development. Principal component analysis was used to reduce dimensionality of the dataset into principal components (PCs). Seven PCs which explained 75.6% variation in the data were retained and used in the weighed overlay modelling (WOM). The weighted overlay map produced five distinct Striga seedbank zones; very low, low, moderate, high and very high. More than 60% of the study area had moderate to high Striga seedbanks. The zones vary mostly based on soil, climate and Striga seed count. The establishment of the optimum levels of the environmental factors at which Striga seedbank is favoured will assist in designing a more site‐specific Striga management. However, for scalability purpose, adoption of the Striga zoning approach can be useful.

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Mitigating Striga hermonthica parasitism and damage in maize using soybean rotation, nitrogen application, and Striga-resistant varieties in the Nigerian savannas

Cited by 15 publications

References 22 publications

Assessing the use of a drought-tolerant variety as adaptation strategy for maize production under climate change in the savannas of Nigeria

Assessing the use of a drought-tolerant variety as adaptation strategy for maize production under climate change in the savannas of Nigeria

Integrated management of Striga gesnerioides in cowpea using resistant varieties, improved crop nutrition and rhizobium inoculants

Spatial modelling indicates Striga seedbank density dependence on rainfall and soil traits in the savannas of northern Nigeria

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