Uganda scientists developing disease-resistant pearl millet

Scientists in Uganda are developing pearl millet resistant to Ergot disease. The innovation is aimed at increasing food supply for communities living in semi-arid areas.

The scientists at the National Semi Arid Resources Research Institute, Serere (NaSARRI) told The EastAfrican that six out of 15 lines of pearl millet obtained from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Niger in 2010 for trials, are showing signs of resistance to Ergot disease in the growing areas.

Lead breeder Dr Geoffrey Lubadde, said they had done three trials and the results were promising.

“In the first trial, we planted the seeds for multiplication in 2011; in the second trial, we identified the resistant lines; and now, we have carried out the crossing between the six lines that showed resistance to Ergot and the local varieties,” said Dr Lubadde.

However, Dr Lubadde said the crop is susceptible to leaf rust disease and needs to be addressed in the subsequent research before it is released to farmers in the next three years.

Ergot is a fungal disease that affects pearl millet’s panicle during flowering in a rainy season. The disease is characterised by cream to pink mucilaginous droplets of “honeydew” oozing out of infected florets on pearl millet panicles.

Within 10 to 15 days, the droplets dry and harden, and dark brown to black sclerotia develop in place of seeds on the panicle.

The sclerotia are usually larger than seeds, irregularly shaped and get mixed with the grain during threshing. On the other hand, leaf rust leaves the crop with yellow spots on the leaves affecting yields and the quality of fodder for the animals.

Pearl millet, whose development and structure is similar to sorghum with some exceptions, is grown mainly in semi-arid areas of northern and eastern Uganda for both commercial and home consumption. It yields reasonably well on poor sandy soils on which other crops fail.

The crop is planted on 14 million hectares in Africa and 14 million hectares in Asia with global production of its grain probably exceeding 10 million tonnes a year.

this time looking for solutions to new diseases—cowpea scab and leaf blight diseases—that have emerged due to the effects of climate change.

Possible solutions
“As soon as we started developing foundation seeds with some farmers and seed companies, we were informed that the crops were being affected by the two diseases,” said Dr Peter Obuo, the lead breeder at the National Semi Arid Resources Research Institute