Bacterial Wilt of Potatoes in Kenya

Abstract

The potato crop in Kenya is of great potential importance, but is currently confined to about 50,000 acres due to heavy disease losses both in the field and the store. The Type lIPs. solanacearum is so damaging on potatoes that soils contaminated with it are unfit for potato cultivation. The amount of soil contamination is increasing exponentially due to the repeated sowing of diseased seed tubers, and the entire crop is jeopardized. Evidence is presented to indicate that the pathogen is not indigenous in Kenya soils. Possible control measures are limited to (a) the use of disease-free seed tubers and (b) the development of resistant varieties. However, the disease is now so widespread that the former is of limited value; unless resistant varieties can be found, potato cultivation in Kenya is likely to decline to insignificance.