EFFECT OF SORGHUM- LEGUME INTERCROP FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FUNGAL DISEASES ON SORGHUM

Abstract

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is ranked fifth globally after maize, wheat, rice and second after barley in Sub-Saharan Africa. Limited awareness and adoption of appropriate integrated sorghum- legume intercropping systems together with foliar diseases has resulted to more than 70% yield losses in sorghum. The aim of this study was to contribute towards climate-smart agricultural production and enhanced food security through integrated sorghum-legume cropping systems for sustainable management of fungal diseases. For the field experiment, planting was done in RCBD with five treatments replicated thrice. The five treatments were; sorghum-monocrop, soybean-sorghum and dolichos-sorghum simple systems, soybean-sorghum and dolichossorghum mbili systems. The in vitro efficacy assessment of the root, leaf and stem legume extracts on fungal pathogen was arranged in CRD with four replications. Disease severity levels was assessed on a 0-5 rating scale. Field trials showed dolichos and soybean simple systems expressed low disease severity levels of 1.5-2.0. In vitro studies confirmed that dolichos leaf (92.34%) and soybean stem (62.87%) gave the highest inhibitory index on C. Sublineolum and F. Moniliforme respectively. In justifying the field experiment dolichos and soybean simple systems gave the best result for integrated cropping systems. Therefore, this study contributed towards climate-smart agricultural innovation, enhanced food and nutritional security through sorghum-legume integrated cropping systems for sustainable management of fungal diseases in sorghum. However, there is need to investigate the durability of natural fungicides (dolichos leaf and soybean stem extracts) for increased efficiency against C. Sublineolum and F. Moniliforme respectively