Grace is a Research and Development Officer with one year of experience at the National Potato Council of Kenya. Grace specializes in crop protection and is responsible for organizing county potato demonstrations in all potato growing regions in the country. She conducts efficacy trials on new pesticides and research on emerging issues affecting the potato value chain. Grace works diligently and uses her positive attitude to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Her future endeavors are to pursue a PhD and expand her knowledge in research as well as addressing problems in the agricultural sector
Abstract
Bacterial wilt (Bw) caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (RS) is a major production constraint in tomato causing yield losses of 35% to 90% in field and greenhouse. The objectives were; to determine reaction of common tomato varieties; assess the effect of watering regimes on Bw in the greenhouse and effect of irrigation systems on incidence and severity of tomato varieties. Eighteen varieties were screened against RS, experiment was laid out in RCBD with 3 replications. Second experiment was laid out in CRD with 3 varieties subjected to 50% field capacity (FC), 100%FC and 120%FC. Field experiment on drip and furrow irrigation systems was laid out in a RCBD with 4 replications. Plants in greenhouse were inoculated with R. solanacearum 2 WAT while disease assessment was done 8 days after inoculation. Data collected was subjected to ANOVA and means separated by LSD at 5%. Riogrande, Isisementi and Rionix were highly susceptible with high incidence and severity scores of disease index (DI) 0.61-0.9. Kilele was found to be highly resistant to Bw with DI of 0.18. At 100%FC, severity and incidence were lowest in Big rock with 1.04 and 41.7%. On field experiments, lowest incidences were recorded in Big rock with 17.3% and under drip and furrow irrigation respectively. Results showed that Bw is highly influenced by moisture levels in the soil and resistant cultivars had great positive impact in management of RS. Combination of resistant varieties with appropriate watering regime can be incorporated in IDM programs to manage Bw on infected fields.
Research Supervisors
Prof. William M. Muiru Prof. Eunice W. Mutitu
