I was born in 1993 and developed a love for horticulture as a child. I chose to enroll in the University of Nairobi's Bachelor of Science in Horticulture program after completing high school in 2012. In 2014, I started my university career and dove headfirst into the world of plants, cultivation methods, and sustainable agriculture methods. I was able to obtain real-world experience during my undergraduate studies by participating in internships. My first internship was with Finlay's Horticulture, where I learned a lot about the business and increased my expertise in crop management and cultivation. After that, I started a second internship with Oserian Development Company.
I put a lot of effort into my studies, did well in them, and received first class honors. I now see limitless prospects in the horticulture sector thanks to my dedication, perseverance, and excitement for the field. Currently, I provide technical advice services for the Agriculture and Food Authority, putting the organization's Performance Contract into action so that it can achieve the government's goal (The Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda). I use the R application to perform data analysis on the information gathered at all entry border locations in order to create predictive models. Python is my preferred programming language, and I use Jupiter notebook to further my data research endeavors. I create Kobo questionnaires for data collecting, cleaning, and STATA analysis for various Organizations like CABI. I was awarded scholarship by the university of Nairobi to complete a Master degree, Plant pathology
Abstract
The research was carried out in Mwea, Krinyaga county, Rice lines from different research organizations were tested for resistance to rice blast and brown spot. The rice lines were from African Agricultural Technology Foundation, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Korea- Africa Food and Agriculture Initiative and International Rice research Institute. Other varieties were also got from the local rice breeders. The objective of the experiment was to test for both resistance to the two foliar diseases and also the agronomic performance of the selected rice lines. Resistance was determined by scoring severity of the disease on using IRRI 2012 scale. The agronomic performance was determined by taking the height and yield of each of the lice line that was tested. Alpha lattice design was used where 64 rice germplasm from Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council were tried alongside other 116 from Korea- Africa Food and Agriculture Initiative. Twenty-five rice lines were found to have resistance to rice blast and brown spot diseases of rice. NERICA rice
lines were generally tolerant to blast and brown spot diseases of rice. Severity of blast negatively affected the agronomic performance of rice like formation of tillers. Reduced tillering then had a negative impact on yields of rice. It was also clear that plants with a higherseverity of brown spot also reported higher severity of blast. Its therefore recommended that the rice farmers in Mwea to consider planting rice lines that were found to be resistant to rice blast and brown spot while maintaining high yields.
Research Supervisors
Prof. James Muthomi, Prof. Florence Olubayo, Dr John Kimani
