IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jasjnl/v5y2013i12p180.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Occurrence and Diversity of Nematode Destroying Fungi in Banana Production Zones in Maragua, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • P. Wachira
  • J. Kimenju
  • J. Kiarie
  • A. Kihurani
  • S. Mwaniki

Abstract

The occurrence and diversity of nematode destroying fungi in banana based farming systems was investigated in Maragua, Kenya. The ultimate aim of the study is to harness the potential of these beneficial fungi in the control of plant parasitic nematodes, one of the most important banana pests in the region. The study area was stratified into three agro-ecological zones; high, middle and lower from which soil samples were collected. The soil sprinkle method was used to isolate the nematode destroying fungi from the soil. Fifty eight isolates from five genera and six taxa were identified to species level. The species identified were; Arthrobotrys oligospora, A. dactyloides, Monacrosporium cionopagum, Meria coniospora, Dactyllela lobata and Harposporium aungullilae. The results also indicated that, the occurrence of nematode destroying fungi was significantly (2.2 x 10-16) different among the production zones with the frequency of detection decreasing with altitude. The mean frequency of nematode destroying fungi occurrence was 2.8 in the lower zone, while 1.8 and 1.2 was recorded in middle and high zones, respectively. The Shannon diversity index also indicated that, the low ecological zone was the most diverse followed by the middle and the least being the high zone. Monacrosporiun cionopagum was the most frequently isolated of the nematode destroying fungi in the study area with an accumulative frequency of 37.9%. It can be concluded that, soils in the banana production zones are rich in nematode destroying fungi and M. cionopagum is being the most wide spread species.

Suggested Citation

  • P. Wachira & J. Kimenju & J. Kiarie & A. Kihurani & S. Mwaniki, 2013. "Occurrence and Diversity of Nematode Destroying Fungi in Banana Production Zones in Maragua, Kenya," Journal of Agricultural Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 5(12), pages 180-180, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jasjnl:v:5:y:2013:i:12:p:180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/download/30685/18632
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/view/30685
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jasjnl:v:5:y:2013:i:12:p:180. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.