narrowing the crop yield gap through better agronomy & plant health management

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Narrowing the Crop Yield Gap through Better Agronomy & Plant Health Management

David Chikoye

23rd November 2015

(R4D Week 2015)

www.iita.org A member of the CGIAR consortium

Narrowing the Crop Yield Gap through Better Agronomy & Plant Health

Management

R4D Week 23 November 2015

Ibadan, Nigeria

Plant Production & Health Management

Strategic Plan 2012-2020


Overview of PPHM strategy • Review strategic Objectives • Priority Research Areas • Highlights of selected activities • Emerging challenges

Five thematic presentations Question & answer Poster session

Program outline


SO1: Innovative crop management options

SO2: Environmentally friendly pest management options

SO3: Technology, knowledge and information sharing

S04: Partnerships and capacity development

Strategic Objectives


Priority research areas Assess crop yield gap due to multiple stresses Crop models and decision support systems Physiological basis for crop adaptation to

stressful conditions Knowledge based weed management practices Water & nutrient management options

SO1: Crop Management Options


Priority research areas Pest risk assessment & phenology models Diagnosis & surveillance of emerging pests and

diseases Management options for insect pests and

diseases Innovative methods for production of bio-

pesticides

SO2: Pest Management Options


Integrated Striga management in maize Weed management in cassava systems Aflatoxin mitigation in maize and groundnuts Emerging challenges

Examples of progress to date


• Current maize yield (< 1.5t/ha)

• Current cowpea yield (< 0.5t/ha)

Striga is a parasitic weed -maize, sorghum, millet and cowpea

S. hermonthica - infested 2.4 to 4 million ha of land in SSA under maize

Yield losses valued at US$ 383 million to US$ 1 billion

Integrated Striga management


Available Striga control technologies

Striga resistant/tolerant varieties (maize/cowpeas)

Cereal – legume rotation/intercrops

Herbicide resistant (IR) maize//seed coating

Biological control options



Grain yield and Striga count of maize varieties following soybean (rotation) on farmers’ field with & without nitrogen in Kano, 2013

Treatment

Year 1

Maize variety

Year 2

Maize grain yield

(kg/ha)

Striga stand

(#/ha)

Without N With N Without N With N

Maize Maize (FC) 209 2031 18563 2237

Soybean 2009 TZEE W 800 3333 16000 1045

Soybean 2009 EVDT STR W 975 3426 8107 1629

Soybean DT STR SYN2 W 1400 3386 800 495

Soybean IWD C2 SYN 1533 3767 4000 1229

Mean 1031 3240 7639 1243

SED 232*** 293*** 3807ns 430***



Performance of selected hybrids under artificial Striga infestation with and

without herbicide treatment at two locations in 2014.

Increase Increase

Striga

damage

Hybrids

With

treatment

Without

treatment (%)

With

treatment

Without

treatment (%)

(1-9)

AS1412-16 4018 3413 18 5 9 -39 4

AS1412-14 3895 3223 21 5 17 -70 5

AS1412-6 3814 3210 19 7 12 -38 4

AS1412-12 3765 3277 15 1 5 -73 4

AS1412-24 3529 3052 16 2 15 -87 5

9022-13 (Tolerant) 0 2290 -100 0 68 -100 7

8338-1 (Susceptible) 0 704 -100 0 90 -100 8

Oba Super-1 (Commer.) 0 2116 -100 0 61 -100 8

Mean 2374 2809 4 26 6

LSD 1181 1152 9 32 2

CV 23 25 60 56 16

Grain yield infested

(kg/ha) Emerged Striga count



Biocontrol of Striga

Bioagent: F. oxysporum f.sp. strigae

Formulation: Foxy2 (West Africa) or FK3 (Kenya)

Attacks Striga at all its growth stages

Attacks only Striga

56 on farm trials in Kano and

Bauchi (2014)

Striga tolerant & susceptible

maize varieties


Seed coating machine used (back view)

Seed coating machine used (front view)

Maize seeds in the of the coating machine before coating

Maize seeds in the of the coating machine during coating


Diseased emerged Striga plants

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Resistant Susceptible

Dis

ease

d S

trig

a p

lan

ts (

%)

Farmer's choice Biocontrol

b

LSD (0.05) = 5.4 (***) LSD (0.05) = 8.1 (***)

a

b

a

Tolerant

Diseased Striga plants

Susceptible



Striga damage symptoms on maize plants

Striga damage rating on a scale of 1-9, where 1 = no damage symptoms and 9 = severe damage

symptoms due to Striga (Berner et al., 1997)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8


Str

iga

dam

ag

e r

ati

ng


a

b

a

b

LSD (0.05) = 0.3 (***) LSD (0.05) = 0.36 (***)

Susceptible Tolerant



BC efficacy under SS AEZ on farm (26 locations, 15 with resistant, 11 with susceptible)

95TZE COMP4 C3 F2 TZE Comp.5-W C7

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500


Mai

ze g

raim

yie

ld (

kgh

a-1)


b

LSD (0.05) = 245 (***) a

a

LSD (0.05) = 282 (***)

b

Tolerant Susceptible


Maize grain yield (kg ha-1)


Farmer control BC + tolerant variety

On-farm Biocontrol Technology farmer evaluation trial in Bauchi

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Hand weeding using simple implements (4, 8 & 12 wap)

250-500 man hours/ha

High crop losses due to delayed weeding

Need to modernize weeding practices!!!

Weed management in cassava systems

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Weed control efficacy of PRE+ POST- emergence herbicides in cassava at 10 WAP

Ibadan Abeokuta Makurdi

Herbicides _________________(%)_______________

1 Cobra + Select Max 97.9 82.3 80.9

2 Envoke 97.3 82.9 86.5

3 Maister Power 97.9 84.3 84.3

4 Maister WG 97.3 82.3 82.0

5 Pre emergence only 80.1 70.3 76.8

6 Hoe weeded 84.1 77.5 79.1

Weed management in cassava systems


Herbicide residual analysis in tubers and leaves

Environmental fate of promising herbicides

Integration of best agronomic with chemical control

Training on herbicide application technology and safe use

Weed Management in Cassava Systems

Future activities

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Aflatoxin mitigation in Africa

Strain development in

progress

Products under testing in

farmers’ fields

Product ready for registration

Product registered

Senegal

Burkina

Faso Ghana

Nigeria

Kenya

Tanzania

Mozambique

Zambia

Rwan

da

Malawi

Burundi

Ugan

da

The

Gambia

Aflatoxin-toxic metabolite produced by Aspergillus flavus fungus

Maize & groundnut most prone

Human health: liver cancer, immune-suppression, stunted growth, death

Negatively impacts trade


Farmers treating maize and groundnut fields with Aflasafe

Aflatoxin reduction in corn Harvest 2009-2015 (5 countries) 83%

Storage 2009-2011 (3 countries) 87%

Carry-over 2009-2011 (1 country) 79%

Aflatoxin reduction in groundnuts Harvest 2009-2015 (5 countries) 92%

Storage 2009-2011 (2 countries) 86%


Emerging pests Pesticide resistance in Maruca Alectra in soybeans Maize lethal necrosis disease Banana fungal wilt (TR4) Yam tuber beetles Spittle bugs on maize Papaya mearlybug (cassava)

New challenges


New emerging & invasive species: we are alert and ready !

Continue addressing the old problems (striga, weeds…)

Strategic implementation workshop (Jan-March 2016)

New challenges


Physiology (Canon) Simulation modeling (Kamara) CBSD (Legg) MLN (Kumar) Crop/livestock integration (Larbi)

Next Presentations

narrowing the crop yield gap through better agronomy & plant health management

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