ABSTRACT Production of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in Kenya is constrained by many biotic, abiotic and socio-economic factors. Among the biotic constraints, bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (Yabuuchi et al., 1995) presents major management difficulties. Attempts to combat the disease have been difficult due to the complex heterogeneous genetic make-up of the pathogen, comprising different races and biovars, its survival mechanisms and its large number of hosts, including wee...
ABSTRACT: Activities of the distilled water, ethanolic and chloroform extracts of Daldina concentrica an ascomycetous fungus was investigated on Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus) using agar well diffusion method. Ethanolic extract of Daldina concentrica showed significantly antibacterial activity against all the test microorganisms except Bacilllus cereus (P ≤0.05). Staphylococcus aureus was the most sensitive organism t...
ABSTRACT The quest to boost dietary protein production from readily available and affordable sources is ever increasing in developing countries. The indigenous edible Pleurotus species (oyster mushrooms), which grow naturally on wood wastes, are potential protein supplements. However, little information is available on the usage of selected tropical trees for optimum mushroom cultivation. Therefore, this research was designed to investigate the growth and yield of oyster mushrooms on sawdust...
ABSTRACT Mushrooms such as Pleurotus, Vovariella and Auricularia species are cultivated for food and medicinal purposes in the world. However, cultivation of Auricularia in Nigeria is limited due to inadequate information on its characteristics, nutritional contents and cultivation requirements. Hence, this study was designed to characterise Auricularia species in Southwestern Nigeria and determine suitable substrates for their cultivation. Fifty-four samples of Auricularia species were ran...
Abstract Lippia javanica (Burm. F.) Spreng occurs naturally in eastern, central and southern Africa. It has widely been used as herbal tea, for ethnomedicinal applications and as a botanical pesticide. Lippia javanica species exhibit great morphological and chemical variations which are notable across a number of natural populations. Differences in morphological taxonomy on important characters such as peduncle length and number of inflorescence per axil have been reported which has led to th...
ABSTRACT The demand for agricultural land is driving the conversion of moist Kenyan savannah into agroecosystems (grazing fields and croplands) and together with altered rainfall patterns, is likely modifying soil moisture, soil respiration and carbon store in the ecosystem. Nevertheless, the carbon dynamics of moist savannas plus of the converted ecosystems are poorly understood yet planning for sustainable use of the ecosystem need to be based on scientific knowledge. While previous studie...
ABSTRACT Of all the uses of African plants, the aspect of medical use has probably attracted the most attention and has also been the most complex and varied. Nearly 70,000 species of higher plants have been used for medical purposes world wide. Medicinal plants form the key component to traditional medicine which remains the major source of health care for over 70% of the Kenyan population. Over 90% of the population use medicinal plants at one time or another. The increasing need to develop...
ABSTRACT Taro (Colocasiae esculenta L. Schott) popularly known as ‘nduma’ is an aquatic plant grown for its edible leaves and corms. It is mainly cultivated in Western and Central Kenya but its production is constrained majorly by Phytophthora colocasiae, a taro leaf blight (TLB) disease. The disease causes destruction of leaf and corm. Knowledge pertaining to taro association with the disease incidence, severity, index, Rainfall, R.H, temperature, interrelationship between agronomic trai...
ABSTRACT The Petroleum Industry has a huge potential for the pollution of the environment at every stage of its operation, hence the need to constantly fashion out new strategies for maintaining the sanctity of our environment. Fungi associated with diseased Irvingia gabonensis (Baill) seeds found in the open markets were suspected to possess the ability to degrade the hydrocarbon substances contained in these seeds. These fungi were isolated bimonthly from the diseased seeds of I.gabonensis...
ABSTRACT African nightshades (Solanum scabrum) is one of indigenous vegetables widely consumed in Kenya. It is used for food, income and for medicinal purposes, but faces low yields due to severe damage by aphids. Yield losses due to aphids is estimated to about 84-96% in Kenya. Aphids have developed resistance to synthetic pesticides. There is need to search for ecofriendly alternatives such as the use of botanicals like pyrethrum which are cheaper. Pyrethrum extracts are known to control in...
ABSTRACT Biological control of Ceratocystis paradoxa using Trichoderma spp. were conducted on oil palm spouted seeds. Eighteen spp. of fungi belonging to ten genera were identified as fungi associated with diseased sprouted seeds. Out of these genera, Aspergillus spp. occurred most frequently and in relative abundance at 25.9%, Trichoderma spp. (23.4%), Ceratocystis paradoxa (11.1%), Fusarium spp (9.9%), Penicillium spp. (8.7%), Rhizopus sp. (7.4%) and Curvularia sp. (4.9%) respectively. Pest...
ABSTRACT Bio-fuels are fuels derived from biological materials or their by-products such as agricultural waste. A study was carried out to assess the production of bio-fuel (bioethanol) from some hydrolyzed agricultural wastes using yeast species isolated from Cola acuminata, Ipomoea batatas, Manihot esculenta, Pennisetum glaucum, Sorghum bicolor, Solanum tuberosum, Zea mays and palmwine (from Elaeis guineensis). Eight yeast species including Candida krusei, Candida tropicalis strain A, Cand...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is one of the most popular vegetables in the world.Tomato and its products are rich in antioxidants and vitamins C, E and carotenoids. The world consumption of tomato has increased significantly. Despite its importance, its production is below full potential due to the effect of pests and diseases such as bacterial wilt. Bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most devastating, and wide-spread bacterial diseases of crops in...
ABSTRACT Sapindaceae Jussieu is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. They exist as trees and shrubs, and tendril-bearing vines with about 140-150 genera and 1400-2000 species worldwide. Sapindaceae is economically, medicinally and aesthetically useful. This aims of this research are to carry out systematic study on African Sapindaceae and generate DNA barcodes for each species with a view to sharing the DNA barcode sequence in a public database. The taxonomy of the family wa...
ABSTRACT Finger millet (Eleusinecoracana (L.) Gaertn) is one of the most important crops among the small millets. In Kenya yields are generally low, because of blast caused by the fungus Pyricularia grisea. Low finger-millet production accelerates incidences of malnutrition. Management has been challenging with cultural approach showing minimal success. Comparatively the use of actinomycetes species as a bio-control agent in management of rice blast caused by a similar pathogen, has shown so...