Browsing by Author "Lung'aho, C."
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Item Effect of Yadbiovitalizer on yield of Irish Potatoes in Limuru area, Kenya(2013) Otipa, M.; Muiru, E.; Lung'aho, C.; Oyoo, J.; Otieno, S.Organic resources play dominant role in soil fertility management in the tropics through their short-term effects on nutrient supply and longer-term contribution to soil organic matter (SOM) formation. Biovitalizer herein referred to as 'YAD' is a locally manufactured organic product and is reported to be a slow release fertilizer. A field experiment was set up to investigate the effects of different applications of manure and fertilizers on the growth and fresh tuber weight of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) in Limuru area, Kiambu County in Kenya. The treatments consisted of Diammonium phosphate (DAP)fertilizer(l8:46:0) at 500kg/ha, Farmyard manure (FYM) (I tonlha), YAD Bio Vitalizer® (750 kg/ha), Control (no fertilizer or manure applied), DAP (250 kg/ hal + FYM (500 kglha), DAP (250 kg/ha) + YAD (375 kg/ha, FYM (500 kglha) + YAD (375 kglha).Treatments of YAD alone were applied with Ecoh balance fohar feed 2 weeks after emergence and then after every other week. The test variety was Tigoni. The experiment was conducted during the short rains season in 2010 and the long rains season in 2011 and was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications.Plant spacing was 75 cm between rows and 30 cm between plants .Results showed that there were significant differences in number of tubers during the short rain season of 2010 but not during the long rain season of 2011 at P:S0.05. DAP+ FYM treatment had the highest number of tubers and also the highest tuber weights in both seasons. YAD yielded the highest ware yield (5.7 tons/ha) and the lowest chatt yield( 0.2 tons/ha) during the short rains season of 2010. The experiments need to be repeated on smallholder farmers' fields where the masking effects of the residual fertilizers could be eliminated. In addition, the cost benefit ratio of different fertilizer combinations especially the use of organic fertilizers needs to be evaluated at farmers' fields so as to make the most profitable recommendations to Irish potato producers in Kenya.Item Micropropagation of Different Potato Cultivars in Upscaling Seed Potato Programme in Kenya(2013) Otieno, S.; Muthoni, J.; Lung'aho, C.; Mbiyu, M.; Oyoo, J.; Onditi, J.; Nyongesa, M.; Kabira, J.; Kenya Agricultural Research Institute - National Potato Research Centre,Scarcity of good quality seed is a major constraint in potato (Solanum tuberosum) production coupled by high expensive gelling agent used in the micropropagation to produce clean pre-basic seed in the country. A study was set out to compare the performance of liquid and solid media in potato micropropagation using 10 potato cultivars. Sections of potato plantlet containing one node were aseptically inoculated at 5 nodes/kilner jar and incubated for four weeks at a light intensity of 3000 lux for 16 hours photoperiod at 20 CC. The culture media consisted of Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different growth regulator combinations of 0.01 mg/l GA3 and 0.001 mg/l kinetin. The procedures were repeated thrice after inoculation to remove shoots from the culture vessels to divide into sections containing several nodes which were inoculated onto fresh medium and repeated every three weeks for three months. The experiment was laid out as a two-factor randomized complete block design replicated four times and was repeated three times. Results showed that there was no difference (P≤ 0.05) between the liquid and the solid media regardless of the type of growth regulator used for the parameters shoot length, number of roots and number of nodes. Solid media was the best for development of complete plantlets and multiplication from meristem tips while liquid media supplemented with 0.01 mg/l GA3 and 0.001 mg/l kinetin for sub-culturing produced plantlets with the highest vigour with respect to shoot height, root length and number of nodes. There was variability of the cultivars in their response to the micropropagation media studied suggesting that there is need to develop a cheap micropropagation protocol that may be suitable for most Kenyan potato cultivars.
