Evaluation of Wheat Varieties
for Disease Resistance and other
Agronomic Traits
By
Kibinge James Karioki
REG No: A22/0060/2009
Supervisor: MS. FELISTERS NZUVE
12/04/2013
Outline of Presentation
1. Introduction
2. Statement of research problem
 Research hypothesis
 Objectives
3. Methodology
4. Work plan
Introduction
 Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is the second most important
cereal crop after maize in Kenya
 However, Kenya is a net importer of wheat due to low
annual production of only 64400 tonnes annually
 Variable climatic conditions and diseases constrain
wheat production
 Wheat improvement programs include breeding for
resistance and early maturity
Introduction
•The common diseases include brown rust
(Puccinia recondita) and black rust or stem rust
(Puccinia graminis)
•These diseases cause yield losses ranging from
70 to 100% especially among the resource
constraint small-scale farmers
Statement of research Problem
 There is need for farmers to use improved varieties
which have high disease resistance and good
agronomic traits
 The maturity or the stage of flowering is critical
especially in areas with limited rainfall for good seed
set
 The wheat varieties should also be of the right plant
height to avoid lodging which could lower grain yield
Main objective
•Identifying disease resistant wheat varieties with
good agronomic traits
Specific objective
•To Identify wheat varieties resistant to diseases
•To identify early maturing varieties
•To identify varieties with good plant height
Hypothesis
•These varieties are resistant to diseases
•These varieties have good agronomic traits
Site description
 The trial experiment will be conducted at the College of
Agriculture and Veterinary Services (Upper Kabete) field station
 Location: Latitude 10 15` South and longitude 360 44` East;
1940m above sea level
 Soils: humic nitisol; Well drained, deep (>180cm), dark red to
darkish brown
 Climate: Semi-humid with bimodal rain distribution; Long rains in
mid March-May and short rain in mid October-December. The
mean annual rainfall is 1006mm; Average temperature of 210C
Varieties
 They include certified seeds of 7 wheat varieties
1.
Kingbird
2.
Kwale
3.
Heroe
4.
Duma
5.
K. Hawk
6.
Robin
7.
Njoro BW II
Experiment layout
 The experiments will be conducted in a randomised
complete block design (RCBD) and two replications
 Two rows each of 1 metre will form a plot and spaced at
30cm
 Planting will be done using DAP 20:20:0 on fine tilth
prepared plots
 Supplemental irrigation water will be done
 Weed control will be done manually through uprooting
Data collection
 Disease severity data will be recorded as follows:
 Percent
of rust infection on the leaves based on
modified Cobb’s scale (0-100%)

Roelfs scale (1992) based on host responses to
infection; using "R" =resistance, MR =moderate
resistance, MS = moderate susceptibility and S =full
susceptibility
 Other agronomic data: Plant height and days to 50%
flowering
Data Analysis
 The Analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be done to
determine the significance of the differences among the
wheat varieties (genotypes) for the disease and other
agronomic traits
 The least significant differences (P=0.05) will be used to
compare the means
Work plan
ACTIVITY
PERIOD
Dec 2012 JAN 2013
Proposal writing
Land preparation and
planting
Irrigation and weed
control
Data collection and
analysis
Proposal presentation
Report writing
Final Report
presentation
FEB 2013
MARCH 2013
APRIL 2013
Thank you!!!