Development and promotion of multiple stress tolerant sorghum varieties through farmers research networks in western Kenya Scientific Team: S. Gudu 1X, E. Ouma 1, P. Kisinyo 1, B. Were 2, E. Too 2, B.O. Nyongesa 1, C.K. Kamau 3, M. Biruma 4, D. Nyambok 5, C. Wasonga 6, C. Laetitia 6 and R. Coe 7 of 1 Rongo University, 2 University of Eldoret, 3 KALRO-Katumani, 4 NaSSARI, Uganda, 5 AgrISS, Kenya and 6 World Agroforestry Center. X Corresponding Author Email: samgudu2002@yahoo.com. Presented at the Sorghum International Conference in Cape Town, South Africa: 9-12 th April 2018
Food security and farmer typology in Western Kenya Between 5-25% of the 6.6 million people in western Kenya are food insecure (FEWSNET 2012/13). Farmers: are perennially faced with food insecurity and declining productivity bringing in to focus family food security; Farmers operate heterogeneous farming systems managed by diversity of experiences bringing into focus the issues of Option X Context; and Depend on natural resources and traditional farming practices bringing into focus the issues of Resource management technological challenges
Research Focus Goal: To use participatory approaches to improve sorghum yields and enhance food, nutrition security and livelihood of communities living in acid soils of western Kenya. Why sorghum? It is resilient and adapts well to a wide range of environmental and soil fertility conditions and is considered a climate-change ready crop with many traditional and emerging uses of high commercial value.
Specific objectives To determine physical and chemical characteristics of soils of the target region, To breed for multiple stress tolerant sorghum varieties targeting Al toxicity & low available P, drought, Striga, and anthracnose To promote adoption of the developed varieties through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and farmer research networks (FRNs).
Sorghum Production Constraints, Yield Loss in E. &C. Central Africa Wortman et al. (2009) Our original research focus was to develop multiple stress tolerant varieties to: Drought using early maturing genotypes Striga Soil acidity (Al/P) Anthracnose Birds using red sorghum
SORGHUM EXPERIMENTAL SITES IN WESTERN KENYA
Counties Food security and farmer typology in Western Kenya cont.. Population Poverty level Food insecurity % Soils ph range Kakamega 1,660,651 49.2 5-10 Strongly acidic (4.3) - slightly alkaline (7.17) Busia 743,946 66.7 20-25 Strongly acidic (4.57) - slightly alkaline (7.12) Vihiga 554,622 62 5-10 Strongly acidic (4.71) - slightly alkaline (7.17) Kisumu 968,879 39.9 10-15 Strongly acidic (4.9) - moderately alkaline (8.0) Siaya 842,304 38.2 15-20 Extremely acidic (3.93) - slightly alkaline (7.32) Homa-Bay 963,794 48.4 20-25 Strongly acidic (4.76) - moderately alkaline (8.21) Migori 917,170 49.6 10-15 Strongly acidic (4.73) - moderately alkaline (7.90) Aggregate 6,651,366 50.6 15 National average 40.24 m 47 21.7
D O N O T C O PY Selection for drought tolerance sorghums in the dry lowlands of Lake Victoria basin in Western Kenya
Distribution of acid soils in maize and sorghum growing areas of Kenya
Aluminum Saturation Percentage (ASP) 100 80 60 40 20 0 High % aluminium saturation in the Kenyan acid soils KN01 ASP ph water N=3 KN02 KN03 KN04 KN05 KN06 Pedon ID KN07 KN08 KN09 KN10 KN11 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Soil ph water
Selection for tolerance to Aluminium toxicity in sorghum Net root length (cm) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 P5 C1 C19 C26 A4 M45 N24b A3 G2 M44 N120 N88 Sorghum Lines NRL0 NRL148
Selection of sorghum for P efficiency under low P (2.0mg/Kg soil) acid soil Root selection
D O N O T C O PY Selection for striga tolerance
Selection for Anthracnose tolerance in sorghum
D O O T N C O PY
D O N O T C O PY More varieties developed through participatory variety breeding & variety
Eighteen sorghum varieties identified in preceding participatory variety selection trials in drylands of eastern Kenya Site code name Gatunga Waita Mean 1KAT-100 1.28 2.50 1.89 2KAT-75 1.30 2.93 2.11 3MSRVE97-Tall 2.54 2.50 2.52 4KAT-40 3.48 1.75 2.62 5KAT-52 3.00 2.41 2.71 6MSRVE90-2 2.30 3.61 2.96 7KAT-11 2.39 3.59 2.99 8MSRVE94 2.074 4.0 3.037 9KAT-46 4.32 1.82 3.07 10KAT-62 2.50 3.80 3.15 11MSRVE94 2.61 3.84 3.23 12KAT-127 2.46 4.46 3.46 13KAT-26 2.48 4.50 3.49 14KAT-137 2.52 4.61 3.57 15MSRVE51 2.722 4.432 3.577 16KAT-161 5.00 2.30 3.65 17MSRV A11 4.944 2.477 3.711 18MSRVE91 3.17 4.36 3.77 Mean 3.506 3.497 3.507 S.e.d 0.913 1.063 0.8195
Farmers Research Networks and NGOs CARD Finger millet AVENE Sorghum AEP AgRISS (includes data manager) CREP REFSO Multi-purpose legumes Others Striga, Beans,
Variety testing and selection in 5 counties in Western Kenya
Response of farmers comparing new varieties with own variety
Yield score map of Different Varieties in western Kenya Red colourrelative low yields, Yellow-no difference, Green- high yields.
Map of disease hotspots for variety 12B.
Farmers selection based on disease resistance and yield
Concluding Remarks Multiple stress tolerant varieties developed are high yielding and meet farmer preferences Working with FRNs offers possibility of increasing adoption of new technologies; Improves participatory variety selection through the power of numbers and Enhances sustainability of work after the project
Acknowledgements McKnight Foundation; GCP; Bio-innovate; NCST Scientific Research collaborators: - SLU Sweden - University of Eldoret, Kenya - Moi University, Kenya -NASRRI, Uganda - AgrISS/FRN -EMBRAPA -Cornell University
SORGHUM PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS
THANKS