Maize streak virus (MSV) contributes significantly to the problem of extremely low African maize yields. Whilst a diverse range of MSV and MSV-like viruses are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and neighbouring islands, only a single group of maize-adapted variants - MSV subtypes A(1)-A(6) - causes severe enough disease in maize to influence yields substantially. In order to assist in designing eff...

The United States is the largest producer of maize in the world. Maize-soybean is the most prominent crop rotation in the Midwestern United States. Glyphosate-resistant volunteer maize is a problem weed not only in soybean, but also in continuous maize or sugarbeet rotations. Storm damage, harvesting problems, poor stalk quality, and insect damage, among other factors, can lead to kernel and ea...

the effect of seed inoculation by phosphate solubilizing microorganisms on growth, yield and nutrient uptake of maize (zea mays l. sc. 704) was studied in a field experiment. this experiment was conducted in meshkin abad experimental station during 2005. the experiment design consisted of four randomized complete blocks in a split-factorial arrangement. the main-plots regarding simulating water...

Despite the resurgence of parastatal marketing boards and strategic grain reserves over the last decade in eastern and southern Africa, there is little empirical evidence about how their activities affect smallholder input use and cropping decisions. This paper uses panel survey data from 1997-2007 on Kenyan smallholders to investigate the effect of Kenya’s National Cereal Produce Board activit...

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important crop among Brazilian smallholder farmers,who are also responsible for 40% of the poultry and egg production in the country.Although poultry litter is considered a potential pollutant, if properly stabilized anddistributed in the field it can be used as a source of nitrogen for maize production.In this study, the response of maize to mineral fertilizer and pou...

Intercropping systems compared to monoculture systems can more efficiently use the existing resources which ultimately will lead to increased plant performance. Therefore, to evaluate the benefits of intercropping maize and beans and assess its impact on yield and yield’s component, an experiment was conducted in factorial design with randomized complete block design in three replication, in 20...

To detect and identify six varieties of genetically modified (GM) maize, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were performed in the present study. The effect of heat treatment on the detection of the genes by the PCR methods was investigated. Maize samples were subjected to 100 ̊C and 121 ̊C heat treatment for different time intervals, and PCR tests were then conducted by using primers specific...

Maize streak virus (MSV; family Geminiviridae, genus Mastrevirus), the causal agent of maize streak disease, ranks amongst the most serious biological threats to food security in subSaharan Africa. Although five distinct MSV strains have been currently described, only one of these - MSV-A - causes severe disease in maize. Due primarily to their not being an obvious threat to agriculture, very l...

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation is an effective method for introducing genes into maize. In this chapter, we describe a detailed protocol for genetic transformation of the maize genotype Hi II. Our starting plant material is immature embryos cocultivated with an Agrobacterium strain carrying a standard binary vector. In addition to step-by-step laboratory transformation proced...