Abstract

Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth is an obligate root parasite that causes severe yield losses in sorghum production in semi-arid areas. It affects yields of sorghum, maize, millet and rice. Striga-resistant sorghum would be an important component of an integrated approach to Striga control. The aim of this study was to determine the response of 48 sorghum genotypes to artificial S. hermonthica infestation in pot experiments and in the field. Two resistant genotypes (Berhan and Framida) and two susceptible genotypes (Assosa-1, Adukara and ETSL102967) were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. The results showed a high variability among sorghum landraces with respect to the effects of Striga parasitism. Early maturing sorghum landraces have the lowest Striga densities and late maturing sorghum landraces are too susceptible to Striga. Sorghum landrace ETSL102969 was found to be the most resistant sorghum landrace with Striga numbers similar to Birhan (the resistant check). Sorghum landrace ETSL102970 was also found to be the second most resistant landrace with better Striga resistance than Framida (the resistant check). It is therefore recommended that ETSL102969 and ETSL102970 should be used to improve the resistance of sorghum to S. hermonthica in Ethiopia.