Kenya

Emergence of new virulent races of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) to stripe (yellow) rust resistance genes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has historically resulted in severe yield losses worldwide. We conducted a study to characterize the virulence profiles of Pst races prevalent in Kenya from historic (1970-1992) and recent collections (2009-2014). Pst isolates collected during surveys in Kenya were characterized at the Global Rust Research Centre (GRRC), Denmark. Yellow rust differential sets (wheat lines with known Yr resistance genes), and strain-specific sequence-characterized-amplified-region (SCAR) markers were used to group the Pst isolates as Pst1 or Pst2. Virulence to Yr1, Yr2, Yr3,Yr6, Yr7, Yr8, Yr9, Yr17, Yr25, Yr27, and the seedling resistance in AvocetS were detected. A total of 12 virulence profiles /races were detected in isolates obtained during 1970 to 1992, while six races were detected from samples collected between 2009 to 2014. In both periods, races with virulence profiles Yr2, Yr6, Yr7, Yr8, Yr25, Yr27, Avs and Yr2, Yr6, Yr7, Yr8, Yr17, Yr25, AvS were common. The SCAR results revealed that both Pst1 and Pst2 strains were present in the Pst isolates tested, Pst1 even in isolates from the 1970s. Additional isolates were also identified with neither Pst1 nor Pst2 profiles. From our findings, race analysis is key to understand the race diversity and pre-breeding efforts for effective resistance gene deployment.

Studies have shown that women farmers are worse off than the male counterparts in terms of adoption of improved varietal technology and hence they experience low productivity. This technology adoption gender gap affects agricultural development considering that women in Kenya play a significant role in agriculture and food production. The link between gender and adoption is likely to vary across cultures and over time. The hypothesis of significant gender differences in access to and use of productive resources and adoption of improved wheat varieties was tested. Based on bivariate analysis, significant differences in access and use of productive resources between men and women farmers were observed. Men were more likely to access credit, extension services, own and cultivate more lands compared to women. Similarly, women in female-headed households were less likely to access the productive resources compared to women in male-headed households. The factors that affect adoption of improved wheat varieties among smallholder farmers were analysed with a specific focus on women. In contrast to the conventional model of using gender of the household head, gender and plot levels analyses were conducted. The results show that the gender of the field owner had a negative effect on adoption of improved wheat varieties. This indicates that, men were more likely to adopt improved wheat varieties, compared to women farmers. Moreover, the level of education of the household head, household size, and access to credit and extension services were observed to significantly increase the likelihood of farmers adopting improved wheat varieties. In the same framework, female farmers in male-headed households who had access to credit were more likely to adopt improved wheat varieties while there was greater probability of adoption of improved wheat varieties among female farmers in female-headed households who had access to agriculture extension and belonged to a farmer organization

Limited but targeted stem rust race characterization was undertaken in Kenya in 2004 and 2005 which led to the detection of Ug99 present in Kenya and designation of Ug99 as race TTKS (based on North American stem rust race nomenclature system). Further surveillance in 2006 and 2007 detected variants of TTKS with virulence on Sr24 (TTKST) and Sr36 (TTTSK), respectively. Stem rust surveillance was undertaken at an extended level in 2008 and 2009 within predominant wheat growing regions of Kenya. Three hundred and sixty farms were surveyed from regional districts of Naivasha, Narok, Nakuru, Laikipia, Meru, Uasin-Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo and Trans-Nzioa, during 2008 main season (May to September and December). The information from farmers indicated that more than 95% of these farms were sprayed with fungicides. Despite the use of fungicides, stem rust was detected in 67% of the surveyed farms. Stem rust ranged from trace amount -100% in severity with minimum infection in Naivasha district (40%) and maximum in Narok district (90%). Yellow rust was detected in 22% of the farms. Out of one hundred and twenty-six stem rust samples collected, 37 and 39 (a total of 76 ) samples were sent to Cereal Disease Laboratory (CDL) Minnesota, USA and Cereal Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada respectively, for race typing using the respective differentials used by these labs. From the 39 collections sent to Canada, 17 (43%) survived, of which majority were typed to TTKST (65%) followed by TTKSK (18%), PTKST (12%) and mixture of TTKST and TTKSK (5%). The CDL typed vast majority of pathotypes as TTKSK (84%) followed by TTKST and TTTSK (7% each). The combined results of two labs indicated that predominant frequency in Kenya in 2008 was TTKSK (51%) followed by TTKST (31%), PTKST (6%) and TTTSK (6%). The frequency of TTKST significantly increased in 2008 compared to 2007 which is not surprising, given that Sr24 carrying wheat cultivar KS Mwamba is cultivated on large acreage in Kenya. In 2009, 262 farms were surveyed from regional districts of Narok, Laikipia, Nyandarua, Meru, Uasin-Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo and Trans-Nzioa. The 2009 season experienced heavy drought in many areas. Nevertheless, stem rust was detected in 79% of the farms with disease severity ranging from trace to 100%. Yellow rust was detected in 15% of the farms. Stem rust infection ranged from 0 to 100% with minimum infection in Nyandarua (18%), Laikipia (42%) and maximum in Uasin-Gishu and Elgeyo (100% each). Out of seventy-four stem rust samples collected, 55 samples were sent to Canada for race typing. Only 20% of the samples survived, of which majority were typed to TTKST (50%), PTKST (34%) and PTKSK (16%). Borlaug Global Rust Initiative 2010 Technical Workshop / Poster Abstracts 7 The 2009 results did not depict real situation of predominance of pathogenic variability because of small sample size, however it provided fair indication that race TTKST is still the most prevalent. This information generated on the distribution of stem rust races, and the incidence of stem rust is important for anticipatory breeding and release of cultivars with effective sources of resistance in Kenya, and at same time mitigating global threat of stem rust by reducing intensity of stem rust inoculum in East Africa.