SELECTION AND EVALUATION OF ECOTYPES OF POTENTIAL GRASS SPECIES FOR RESEEDING THE ASALS OF KENYA

1. SELECTION AND EVALUATION OF ECOTYPES OF POTENTIAL GRASS SPECIES FOR RESEEDING THE ASALS OF KENYA PhD Proposal By Kirwa Everlyne Cheptarus B.Sc, M.Sc Supervisors: Dr. KiarieNjoroge, UoN Dr. George N. Chemining’wa, UoN Dr. William NgoyawuMnene, KARI

2. Introduction • ASALs have great potential but overlooked • The fastest-growing agricultural subsector • 30% agric. GDP in developing nations (IFAD, 2010). • In Kenya: • 70% livestock pop. • Valued Kshs 70b • 67% of red meat (Jumaet al., 2010)

3. …Introduction • 92% of Nat. Parks &Reserves’ land • 90% wildlife. • 80% of country’s eco-tourism for over Kshs 50b p.a (ALMP, 2005). • fragile lands & currently degraded • land subdivisions & changes in land uses, • Increasing human & livestock pop. • overgrazing & bush encroachment • increasing incidence of droughts • Livestock production constraint esp. feed availability

4. …Introduction • Rehabilitation technologies e.g. reseeding, (Kiptarus 2005; Mnene, 2006; Nyarikiet al., 2008; Manyeki, et al., 2011) • Various grass species tested for reseeding, e.g. Farmer capacity building African foxtail (Cenchrus ciliaris) Horsetail grass (Chloris roxburghiana) Maasailovegrass (Eragrostis superba) Bush rye (Enteropogon macrostachyus) • However, seeds not available commercially

5. Justification Grass seeds processing • To commercialize, must standardize quality & a sustainable seed system • Poor establishment still a constraint to reseeding • Several ecotypes exist Hand sorting • Knowledge on the level & structure of variation within & among these grasspopulations for sustainable seed collection, utilisation & conservation • And for ecotype seed yield potential by nutrient level & water interaction Packaging

6. Objectives Broad objective • To screen for higher productivity in various ecotypes of four preferred & adapted range grasses under different production regimes Grass hay on transit Grass seeds packaged for sale in informal market

7. Objectives cont… Specific Objectives • To identify the most productive ecotypes of four range grasses in seed & herbage yield • To genetically characterize ecotypes of four range grasses • To evaluate the effects of N-fertilizer use & irrigation on quantity & quality of seeds of selected ecotypes of four range grasses

8. Research Hypotheses • The seed & herbage traits of the ecotypes are related to one another & to some traits of agronomic importance • There is differentiation in ecotypes due to eco-geographical variation? • Fertilizer or irrigation positively affects seed yield traits of the ecotypes

9. Materials & Methods Three (3) experiments to be conducted: • Identification of the most productive ecotype in seed & herbage production • Genetic characterization of ecotypes • Effect of fertilizer use & irrigation on seed production in grass ecotypes Study site • 4 sites based on climatic variation: - Kiboko A & B - Buchuma - Mariakani

10. Exp. 1: Identification of the most productive ecotype in seed & herbage production Grass seed collection • 4 counties by Agro-ecological zones (AEZ) & altitude - Kilifi (AEZ III) - Taita Taveta (AEZ IV) - Makindu (AEZ V) - Kajiado (AEZ VI) • 5 purposively selected sites in each county • 20 plants harvested using randomly stratified technique (Guarinoet al., 1995) • Viability tests - KARI Kiboko labs

11. …Experiment 1 • Seeds to be sown in trays • Seedlings transplanted to field at 1x1 m spacing Experimental design • Split plot design, 3 replications, each 16 plots • Spp & ecotypes as main & subplot, respectively • Plot size of 4 x 4 m with inter-row spacing of 1 m Data collection • Agro-morphological traits according to IBPGR (1985) & van de Wouwet al. (1999)

12. …Experiment 1

13. …Experiment 1 • Weather data for source of seed collections • Annual mean rainfall (mm), annual mean temperature (°C), Mean diurnal temperature range (°C), Elevation (m) & Latitude (Degrees) Data analysis • Analysis of variance (ANOVA) & mean separation using GenStat • Correlation analysis between the plant traits & the environmental factors

14. Exp 2: Genetic characterization of ecotypes Plant sampling • Fresh leaves from 10 plants per ecotype will be randomly sampled following procedure by Odat et al., (2004) Laboratory analysis • Genomic DNA extraction by a modification of a CTAB method (Doyle & Doyle (1987) • Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) analysis according to the standard procedure described by Vos et al. (1995).

15. …Experiment 2 AFLP-based data analysis • Genetic diversity, ordination analysis & Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) with GenAlEx software (Peakall & Smouse, 2009) • Cluster analysis using PopGen32 population genetic analysis software (Yeh et al., 1997) • Genetic distance, matrix dendrogram, F statistics, gene diversity over loci, proportion of polymorphic loci, Shannon index & gene frequency (Nei 1987; McDermott & McDonald 1993)

16. Exp 3: Effect of N-fertilizer use & irrigation on seed production of grass ecotypes Experimental design • Soil sampling along plot diagonals & analysis for OC, EC, pH, total N, available P, K, Ca & Mg • Sowing of the ecotypes in split-split plot design, 3 reps • Irrigation, fertilizer & ecotype as main plot, sub-plot & sub-sub plot, respectively • Treatments: with/without irrigation, with/without N-fertilizer

17. …Experiment 3 Data collection • Weather records will be kept during the experimentation period Data analysis • ANOVA & mean separation using GenStat

18. Expected outputs • The most productive ecotypes of four range grasses in seed & herbage production identified • Ecotypes with wide adaptation to different ecological settings identified through genetic characterization • Effect of fertilizer use on quality & quantity of seeds of ecotypes of four range grasses under irrigation evaluated & documented

19. Budget summary

20. Workplan

21. …Workplan

22. Thank you all