ACADEMIC STAFF PROFESSIONAL PROFILE FORM Personal Data Name: Wilson M. Thagana Title/Qualifications: PhD Department/Unit/Section: Agricultural Science and Technology (AST) Contact Address: Kenyatta University, 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya Position: Senior Lecturer Area of Specialization: Plant Breeding & Biotechnology Research Interests: Application of biotechnological tools in crop improvement, Breeding for drought and salinity tolerance Conference Presentations Title of Paper presented City/Country Date of (US$) 1 W.M. Efficacy of a Local and Commercial Rooting powder on Roses 1st School of Agriculture Biennial International Conference sponsored by Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya 1st -5th December, 2014 - 2 W.M. Effects of Withholding Irrigation Water after Complete Heading on Seed Quality Traits in Mwea 1st School of Agriculture Biennial International Conference sponsored by Kenyatta University(KU), Nairobi, Kenya 1st -5th December, 2014 - 3 W.M. Targeted Plant Breeding KARI-Thika/Kenya 1/11/13 - 4 Effect of Seed 11th African crop 13th -17th - Thagana Thagana Thagana
W.M. Size on Germination and Early Growth of Jojoba in Areas of Kenya Science Society Conference. Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, Entebbe-Uganda. October 2013. 5 W.M. Effect of Withholding Irrigation Water after Complete Heading on Rice Yield and Components in Mwea, Kenya 11th African crop Science Society Conference. Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, Entebbe-Uganda. 13th -17th October 2013. - 6 W.M. Characterization of Arabusta (Coffea arabica L. x Coffea canephora Pierre) Coffee and it’s Parental Genotypes using Molecular Markers 11th African crop Science Society Conference. Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, Entebbe-Uganda. 13th -17th October 2013. - 7 W.M. Effect of Genotype, Plant Spacing and Weeding Regimes on Weed Density and Yields of Upland Rice in Uganda. 11th African crop Science Society Conference. Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, Entebbe-Uganda. 13th -17th October 2013. - 8 W.M. Enhancing Cassava Productivity Through Host plant Resistance Breeding Against Cassava Mosaic Arusha/Tanzania 28/1/13 - Thagana arid
Disease and Cassava Brown Streak Disease using Genetic Engineering and Marker Assisted Selection-a Kenyan project 9 W.M. Characterization of Sweet Potato [Ipomea batatas (L)] Landraces using Morphological and DNA markers in East Kamagak Location of Rachuonyo District. Bondo University College (BUC), Bondo, Kenya. 4th-7th December 2012. - 10 W.M. Occurrence of seed abortion and numerical components of seed yield of soyabean (Glycine max L. Merr.) in three contrasting environments. El Minia/Egypt 25th-29th March, 2012 925 11 W.M. and Utilization of Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis [Link] Schneider)as a basis for Industrialization and Income Generation in ASALs UniBRAIN/PanAAC Fair, Hilton Hotel,, Nairobi 26th-27th November, 2010 - 12 Selection and characterization Nairobi/ Kenya 7th-9th April, 2010 300
W.M. of superior bushes of Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis [Link] Schneider) for ASALs in Kenya. 13 W.M. Chickpea - a promising new food legume crop for drought prone cool areas of Kenya. Cape Town/ South Africa 2009 - 14 W.M. Comparison of phenotypic characters of mutant lines of rapeseed (Brassica napus L ) with the original parents. Nairobi/ Kenya 2008 - 15 W.M. In vitro embryo culture and immature seed germination techniques for rapid generation advance in soyabean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]. Nairobi/K enya 2006 - 16 W.M. Variability in M2 generations and characteristics of selected advanced mutant lines of rapeseed. Nairobi/ Kenya 2006 - 17 W.M. Characterization and genetic relationships of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) Entebbe/ Uganda 2005 -
accessions. 18 W.M. Effect of irradiation on M1 generations of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Entebbe/ Uganda 2005 - 19 W.M. Introduction and status of Jojoba Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider production in Kenya. Nairobi/ Kenya 2004 - 20 W.M. interactions and stability estimates for sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) varieties grown in diverse environments in Kenya. Johannesburg/ South Africa. 2002 - 21 Riungu, T.C./ W.M. Holistic approach in the dissemination of technologies in Lare division, Nakuru district Egerton university/ Kenya 2001 - 22 W.M. The status of Kenya in the Global production and supply of oilseed and oilseed products. Nairobi/ Kenya 2000 - 23 W.M. Characteristics of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) varieties grown in Maputo/ Mozambique 1999 -
Kenya. 24 W.M. Yield performance of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) genotypes on selfing and outcrossing. Nairobi/ Kenya 1998 - 25 W.M. The effect of seed size on germination of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in the laboratory. Nairobi/ Kenya 1996 - Research S/ No Researcher Year Title Donor Funding (US$) 1 Thagana, W. M. Nutrition-sensitive Intervention with African Leafy Vegetables to Improve Nutrition Status of School Going Children in Kenya Kenyatta University Vice Chancellors’ Research Grant Call 2013 16,666 2 Thagana, W.M. Enhancing Cassava Productivity Through Host Plant Resistance Breeding Against EAAPP 264,677
Location of Rachuonyo District 4 Thagana, W.M. Enhancing Chickpea Productivity and Production in Areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia Bill & Melinda Gates 106,830 5 Thagana, W.M. and utilization of Jojoba in ASALS KAPP 100,000 Publications S/No. Author Year Title Journal ISBN/ISSN Reference No. 1 Thagana, W.M. 2014 Beverage Quality and Biochemical Attributes of Arabusta (C. arabica x C canephora P.) and their Parental Genotypes African Journal of Food Science 8(9): (2014) 2 Thagana, W.M. 2014 Genetic Characterization of Arabusta Coffee Hybrids and Their Parental Genotypes using Molecular Markers Plant Cell Biotechnology and Molecular Biology 15(1&2): 31-42 (2014) 3 Thagana, W.M. 2013 Seed Abortion and Numerical Components of Seed Yield of Soyabean (Glycine max L. J. Agri. Sci. 4(1): 1-5 (2013)
Merr.) in Three Contrasting Agroecologies 4 Momo, J.A. and Thagana, W.M. 2013 Effect of withholding Irrigation Water after complete Heading on Rice Yield and Components in Mwea-Kenya J. Agri. Sci. 4(2): 69-75 (2013) 5 Thagana, W.M. 2013 Variability in M2 Generations and Characteristics of Advanced Mutant lines of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) J. Agri. Sci. 4(2): 83-86 (2013) 6 Thagana, W.M. 2011 Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology Odel Module - 7 Thagana, W.M. 2010 Agricultural Biotechnology Odel Module - 8 Thagana, W.M. 2009 Heterosis in hybrids derived from cultivars and mutant lines of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). PhD thesis - 9 Thagana, W.M., C.M. Ndirangu, E.O. Omolo and T.C. Riungu. 2007 Performance of rapeseed (Brassica napus L. ) hybrids and parental mutant lines in three environments. Egerton journal In Press 10 Muriithi, W.T., Indra, S. H.,Yeung, E.C. & Thorpe, T.A.. Plantlet regeneration in Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.): Morphogenesis Forest Ecology and Management 57: 141- 160.
1 Member, Plant Breeders’ Association of Kenya (PBAK), 2003-Todate 2 Member of East African Seed committee (EASCOM) National and International awards and Recognitions S/No Name of award or Recognition Awarding Organization/Body Year 1 Awarded US $1,704 to attend Guelph East Africa Workshop, Serena Hotel, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Kenyatta University/University of Guelph, Canada 23rd-26th February, 2014 2 Awarded US $120 for Best idea on water harvesting Kenyatta University Management 2011 3 Financial support to attend EASCOM AGM Entebbe, Uganda EASCOM of ASARECA 24th-25th February, 2011 4 Fellowship-chickpea breeding and seed production. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India. 6/01-5/02/09 5 Fellowship-Jojoba breeding and production. Kenya Agricultural Productivity Project (KAPP)/Association of the Rajasthan Jojoba Plantation Research Project (AJORP) Jaipur, Rajasthan, India 21/9-30/9/2008 6 Best paper in Horticulture and Industrial Crops (US $ 400) Secretariat 11th KARI Scientific Conference 2008 7 Best paper in Biotechnology (US $ 145) Secretariat 10th KARI Scientific Conference 2006 8 Fellowship-Molecular marker techniques for development of improved crop varieties. IAEA/AFRA/ARC-LNR, Roodeplaat, Pretoria, South Africa 14/8-1/9/2006 9 Fellowship–Marker Assisted selection and Mutation Breeding. IAEA/KARI, Njoro, Kenya 3–14 /10/2005 10 Fellowship-Advances in IAEA/KARI, Njoro, Kenya 16/2-27/2/2004
Molecular Characterization for Crop Improvement. 11 Awarded US$ 1,000 to attend conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. International Sunflower Association (ISA) 2002 Fellowship-Sunflower breeding. World Bank/Directorate of Oilseed Research (DOR), Hyderabad, India. 18/9-18/11/96 External Examination (if any) S/No Institution Year 1 External Examiner, MSc Thesis, University of Nairobi. 2015 2 External Examiner, MSc Thesis, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. 2015 3 Finalization of Seed and Plant Varieties Act (CAP326) Regulations 2015 4 2014: Reviewer, AGRA/KU/UON/HAK International Conference 2014 5 2014: Reviewer, Journal of Applied Biosciences (JABs) 2014 6 Review of Seed and Plant Varieties Act (CAP326) Regulations 2013 7 Reviewer of Papers-Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences 2010 8 Reviewer of Papers-10th KARI Conference 2008 Supervision of postgraduate students (if any) S/No Name of student Thesis title Status of project(e.g. First year etc) 1 Inoti, Shadrack Kinyua PhD- Characterization, Propagation and Management of Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) in Semi-arid Areas of Voi, Kenya. Third year-Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
2 Sylvia A. Henga PhD-Finger Printing and Relating Juvenile Characters of Rice to Yield and its Components First Year- Kenyatta University 3 Kirui Kipngetich Rickson MSc-Evaluation of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum Genotypes for Fusarium Wilt Resistance and Its’ Management by Fungicides. Final year (Thesis submitted), Egerton University 4 Onyango Rosally Anyango MSc- Characterization of Virus-free Sweet Potato (Ipomea batatas [L.] Lam) Landraces Using Morphological and SSR Markers in East Kamagak District. Graduated 4th July 2014, Kenyatta University 5 Jobson Aruna Momo MSc-Effect of Withholding Irrigation Water at Different Levels After Complete Heading on Rice Yield and Seed Quality. Graduated 4th July 2014, Kenyatta University 6 James M. Gimase MSc-Genetic Diversity of Arabusta Coffee (Coffea arabica L. x Coffea canephora Pierre) and their Parental Genotypes. Graduated 4th July 2014, Kenya University 7 Anyang Robert Tabot MSc-Effects of Varietal Completed, Kenya University