African Journal of Plant Science

Finger millet is a food crop that provides nutritional security and is climatically resilient for farming and agricultural diversification. However, its quality and yield remain low due to biotic and abiotic factors, the greatest of which is blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae . We surveyed the occurrence, distribution and severity of finger millet blast in five counties, namely, Busia, Bungoma, Kisii, Machakos and Makueni, in Kenya. Blast disease occurrence was determined by observing disease symptoms of different plant parts on each farm, and symptoms were recorded as either present or absent. Severity was evaluated based on the disease symptoms on plant fingers, leaves and necks and generally at the whole farm scale. Distribution was assessed based on the number of farms sampled for blast per county, and global positioning systems coordinates were recorded. Blast occurrence was 100%, with a uniform distribution pattern on all the farms surveyed across all the counties. Busia County had the highest disease severity at 82.3%, while Makueni had the lowest severity at 61%. Pearson’s correlation test revealed no statistically significant correlation between blast severity and plant parts infected (p< 0.05), with Busia (74.2%) having the highest number of plants showing symptoms of blast on fingers, followed by Bungoma (57.1%), Makueni (57%), Machakos (56%) and Kisii, 53.3%. This study reveals that finger millet blast is rampant in all the counties surveyed and is widely distributed in Kenya. This information is helpful in understanding the geographical distribution, occurrence and severity of M. oryzae . The purpose of this study was to determine the duration from planting to reproductive phase, of wild blackberry ( Rubus spp.) collected from the wild. It was carried out at the Horticulture Research and Teaching Farm, Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya. The experimental layout was a randomized complete block design (RCBD) replicated three times; treatments were four wild blackberry species and one cultivated cultivar. The days to first flowering were significantly shorter in cultivated species Rubus fruiticosus at 126 days after planting while wild species Rubus pinnatus, Rubus steundneri, Rubus volkensis and Rubus apetalus took much longer time (341, 333, 332 and 227 days, respectively). Compared to other wild species R. apetalus took a significantly shorter time to flowering than all the other wild species. Analysis also showed that cultivated species , R. fruiticusos had significantly the longest harvesting duration compared to all wild species planted in the present study. It is concluded that wild blackberry species under conventional production practices have varying days to reproductive phase. However, more studies are necessary with a view to reducing the days to reproductive phase for the wild species to compare favourably with the cultivated types. Potato tuber yield and quality is constrained by a number of biotic and abiotic factors, among which low soil fertility is the prime one. Thus, the objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of chemical fertilizer types and rates on tuber yield and quality of potato at Assosa, Western Ethiopia. The treatments consisted of control, three rates of NP combinations (55 kg N and 45 kg P 2 O 5 , 110 kg N and 90 kg P 2 O 5 , 165 kg N and 135 kg P 2 O 5 kg ha -1 ), one NPK combination (110 kg N, 90 kg P 2 O 5 and 69 kg K 2 O ha -1 ), formula 2 (100 % NPSB + 91.9 N kg ha -1 and 200% NPSB + 128.8 N kg ha -1 ) and formula 4 (100 % NPSZnB + 93.1 N kg ha -1 and 200% NPSZnB + 131.2 N kg ha -1 ). It was observed that higher marketable tuber yield (30.03 t ha -1 ) and total tuber yield (34.58 t ha -1 ) were obtained with the application of NPK (110 kg N + 90 kg P 2 O 5 + 69 kg K 2 O ha -1 ) implying that K is an important limiting nutrient besides N and P in the study area. Therefore, NPK fertilizer application is recommended for high yield and quality tuber production in Assosa area, western Ethiopia. Information on the nature and magnitude of genetic variability is one of the prerequisites for a successful breeding program in selecting genotypes with desirable characters. To estimate the level of genetic divergence of lowland rice genotypes, a field experiment was conducted using thirty-six genotypes during 2017 main cropping season. The experiment was laid out 6x6 simple lattice design. Analyses of variances showed significant differences among traits tested, except harvest index. Principal components PC1, PC2 and PC3 accounted for 64.16% of the total variation. The highest inter-cluster distance was exhibited between cluster I and IV (D 2 = 769.77), cluster I and VI (D 2 =485.33), cluster I and III (D 2 =232.35), cluster III and IV (D 2 =312), cluster III and VI (D 2 =197), cluster IV and VI (D 2 =746.51), cluster VI and V (D 2 =259.51) and cluster VI and VII (D 2 =140.15). The crosses between genotypes selected from cluster I with clusters IV, VI and III; cluster IV with clusters III, VI and V are expected to produce better genetic recombination and segregation in their progenies. The cluster means for cluster VI and I were characterized by early heading and early maturity. While cluster I, II, III, and IV were characterized by high mean performance for grain yield for most of its components.