Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia

Napier or elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is a perennial grass grown widely in East Africa as a fodder crop. It is being promoted in Ethiopia for use by cut and carry (zero grazing) smallholder livestock keepers. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Ethiopia maintains a ger...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Melesse, A.
Formato: Tesis
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Addis Ababa University 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75655
_version_ 1855524502733062144
author Melesse, A.
author_browse Melesse, A.
author_facet Melesse, A.
author_sort Melesse, A.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Napier or elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is a perennial grass grown widely in East Africa as a fodder crop. It is being promoted in Ethiopia for use by cut and carry (zero grazing) smallholder livestock keepers. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Ethiopia maintains a germplasm collection of Napier at its field stations in Debre Zeit and Zewai. ILRI distributed apparently clean cuttings to the farmers, however it was only recently a disease, phytoplasma was identified in these stations. Therefore, this study was initiated to detect Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) causing agent (Phytoplasma) and the extent of its distribution in Ada woreda through Nucleic acid spot hybridization (NASH) technique, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and PCR- RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism). A total of 603 Napier grass leaf samples from 15 farmers’ field of 5 villages, ILRI/Debre Zeit gene bank, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR/Debre Zeit) and Genesis farm were screened for the presence of phytoplasma and its symptoms. Following this the effect of cutting on the prevalence of the disease was studied on Napier grass accessions 14984, 16786, 16837 and 16835. Passive transmission of the disease was also studied in a screen house with phytoplasma inoculated plants. Out of the total samples 4.3% were phytoplasma positive and only 0.8% showed the symptom. Cutting increased the prevalence of the pathogen in all accessions, however accessions 16786 and 16835 were more affected than the others. In the screen house, symptom development was correlated with the presence of Phytoplasma in 60% of the analyzed leaf samples. Out of the 19 NASH positive samples screened for the presence of phytoplasma 18 were found to be positive by PCR. PCR- RFLP result showed that digestion with Rsa I restriction enzyme had a similar banding pattern to 16Sr XI phytoplasma group found in Kenya. Therefore, the phytoplasma identified in this study seems to differ from 16SrIII group that was previously found in Zewai and Debre Zeit ILRI fields. Therefore, this study confirmed the presence of phytoplasma infection of Napier grass in Ada woreda. Further characterization of the phytoplasma using sequence analysis is needed to specifically identify the phytoplasma group.
format Tesis
id CGSpace75655
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2009
publishDateRange 2009
publishDateSort 2009
publisher Addis Ababa University
publisherStr Addis Ababa University
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace756552025-11-05T04:04:38Z Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia Melesse, A. animal feeding forage Napier or elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is a perennial grass grown widely in East Africa as a fodder crop. It is being promoted in Ethiopia for use by cut and carry (zero grazing) smallholder livestock keepers. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Ethiopia maintains a germplasm collection of Napier at its field stations in Debre Zeit and Zewai. ILRI distributed apparently clean cuttings to the farmers, however it was only recently a disease, phytoplasma was identified in these stations. Therefore, this study was initiated to detect Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) causing agent (Phytoplasma) and the extent of its distribution in Ada woreda through Nucleic acid spot hybridization (NASH) technique, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and PCR- RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism). A total of 603 Napier grass leaf samples from 15 farmers’ field of 5 villages, ILRI/Debre Zeit gene bank, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR/Debre Zeit) and Genesis farm were screened for the presence of phytoplasma and its symptoms. Following this the effect of cutting on the prevalence of the disease was studied on Napier grass accessions 14984, 16786, 16837 and 16835. Passive transmission of the disease was also studied in a screen house with phytoplasma inoculated plants. Out of the total samples 4.3% were phytoplasma positive and only 0.8% showed the symptom. Cutting increased the prevalence of the pathogen in all accessions, however accessions 16786 and 16835 were more affected than the others. In the screen house, symptom development was correlated with the presence of Phytoplasma in 60% of the analyzed leaf samples. Out of the 19 NASH positive samples screened for the presence of phytoplasma 18 were found to be positive by PCR. PCR- RFLP result showed that digestion with Rsa I restriction enzyme had a similar banding pattern to 16Sr XI phytoplasma group found in Kenya. Therefore, the phytoplasma identified in this study seems to differ from 16SrIII group that was previously found in Zewai and Debre Zeit ILRI fields. Therefore, this study confirmed the presence of phytoplasma infection of Napier grass in Ada woreda. Further characterization of the phytoplasma using sequence analysis is needed to specifically identify the phytoplasma group. 2009-02-15 2016-06-09T11:32:00Z 2016-06-09T11:32:00Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75655 en Open Access application/pdf Addis Ababa University Melesse, A. 2009. Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia. MSc thesis Science in Biology (Applied Microbiology). Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University.
spellingShingle animal feeding
forage
Melesse, A.
Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia
title Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia
title_full Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia
title_fullStr Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia
title_short Study on phytoplasma causing Napier grass stunt disease (NGSD) in different farmers’ fields in Ada Woreda, Ethiopia
title_sort study on phytoplasma causing napier grass stunt disease ngsd in different farmers fields in ada woreda ethiopia
topic animal feeding
forage
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75655
work_keys_str_mv AT melessea studyonphytoplasmacausingnapiergrassstuntdiseasengsdindifferentfarmersfieldsinadaworedaethiopia