Occurrence Of Bacterial Wilt Pathogen In Soils And Potato Tubers In Runyenjes In Embu County, Kenya.

Abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a starchy tuber crop that is widely cultivated in Africa as an income generator. Nutritionally, potato provides essential amino acids among other important body required nutrients. Despite the significance of potato as a crop, its production is constrained by various biotic and abiotic factors, which includes bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Ralstonia solanacearum is widely distributed in tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate climates with a wide host range. In Kenya, the infection of potato farms by R. solanacearum has spread to all potato growing areas. It affects over 70% of potato farms causing yield losses of between 50 to 100% in Kenya. This study was carried out to assess the occurrence of bacteria wilt in small scale farmer’s potato farms in Runyejes in Embu County. A survey of potato farms was conducted in different tomato growing villages in between September and October 2019. Diseased potato samples and soil samples were collected from the farms and taken for laboratory study at Chuka University. Collected data on incidence of pathogen on tuber and soil were subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SAS version 9.4. Significance means of all the analysis were separated using Least Significance Difference at α = 0.05. Incidences of potato bacteria wilt disease in different villages surveyed was significantly different (p < 0.05). The incidence of R. Solanacearum in farmer’s fields ranged from 16.51% (Makutano village) to 50.42% (Kiangodu village). The overall mean score for the incidence was 32.2% across all the farms studied. In conclusion, incidence of bacterial wilt pathogen in soil and tuber sampled from Runyenjes area of Embu County differ from farm to farm and location to location. Study on incidence of potato bacterial wilt in is necessary in all small potato farmers in Embu County to determine the extent of spread of the disease in the area.