striga hermonthica is a noxious, obligate hemi-parasite of cereal grasses that causes severe grain yield loss in susceptible maize cultivars in africa. the development of host plant resistance is one of the most practical stiga control strategies. in this study experiments on 36 maize inbred lines were conducted in pots and in field during the two rainy seasons of 2009 at kibos and alupe statio...

Strigolactones are a class of plant hormones that inhibit axillary bud outgrowth and are released from plant roots to act as a rhizosphere communication signal. The Orobanchaceae parasitic plant Striga hermonthica perceives strigolactone as its germination signal, indicating host presence. After germination, the Striga plant parasitises the host plant and suppresses host growth by draining phot...

Where did the name come from? Well the lactone part obviously came from the structure and the ‘striga’ part came from their first identified function. They were originally identified as very annoying molecules exuded from plant roots because they stimulated germination of very harmful parasitic weeds, such as Striga sp. and Orobanche sp. The term ‘striga’ comes from the Latin words strix or str...

Plants from the genus Desmodium, in particular D. uncinatum, are used on sub-Saharan small-holder farms as intercrops to inhibit parasitism of cereal crops by Striga hermonthica and Striga asiatica via an allelopathic mechanism. The search for Desmodium species which are adapted to more arid conditions, and which show resilience to increased drought stress, previously identified D. intortum, D....

We studied the effects of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. strigae (Fos), a soil-borne biocontrol agent (BCA) against Striga hermonthica, on total fungal and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) taxa in rhizospheres of maize in both clayey and sandy soil. Effects of Fos-BCA 'Foxy-2' were evaluated against (1) S. hermonthica presence, and (2) organic fertilization with Tithonia diversifolia residues at 1...

Summary Production of cereal crops in sub-Saharan Africa is threatened by parasitic striga weeds and attack stemborers the invasive fall armyworm (FAW), compounded increasing hot dry conditions. A climate-smart push-pull technology (PPT) significantly reduces effects these biotic challenges. To improve further resilience system to climate change, more adapted suitable companion plants were iden...