A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>

Date: 5 April 2009
Source: The Sunday Monitor [edited]
<http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_business/Elephant_grass_disease_on_the_loose_82688.shtml>

Introduced in 1960 by the colonial government, the napier grass forms almost 80 percent of fodder for smallholder livestock farmers in Uganda. But the disease, the napier smut, causes stunting and sometimes rotting of this grass. It has been recorded to cause up to 100 percent loss of vegetative cover.

According to Dr Dennis Kyetere, the Director General of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), the disease has now spread to 30 districts around the country. "What's worrying is that many farmers are not aware it is a disease. They associate it with dwindling soil fertility," he said. The disease was 1st observed in Masaka and Mukono districts in 2001.

According to Dr Kyetere, "Small holder farmers own over 90 percent of the dairy cattle and goats." And they are now facing a grave risk. To confront the looming disaster, Dr Titus Alicai, National Crop Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), said they have started a campaign to raise awareness about the disease amongst farmers.

He said Uganda is partnering with regional countries. As part of this initiative, "we are developing a genetic diversity study of various napier clones in the region to identify those which are resistant. So far, we have 960 such clones," Dr Janice Proud, a researcher from the International Livestock Research Institute, Ethiopia, said.

Some experts have estimated that napier [smut] causes between 20 and 40 percent reduction in herbage yield, lack of clean planting materials, and a decline in animal productivity, thus low income.
Resource-poor and landless farmers -- meaning they can't free-range graze their animals -- are particularly affected by the elephant grass yield reductions.

[Byline: Kikonyogo Ngataya]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Susan Baekeland

[Napier or elephant grass (_Pennisetum purpureum_) is an important fodder crop in East Africa that is often used in a cut-and-carry system. Head smut caused by the fungus _Ustilago kamerunensis_ has a devastating impact on this crop causing serious reduction in biomass or complete yield loss. Symptoms include stunting of plants, premature flowering and the replacement of seeds by a black mass of spores. The existence of disease hot spots suggests that the main means of spread is through transport of infected planting material.

Disease management may include fungicides (mostly too expensive for smallholders), use of clean planting material, phytosanitary measures to prevent pathogen introduction, and planting of alternative fodder grasses not susceptible to the fungus (for example _Panicum_ or _Setaria_ species). While some resistant crop lines are available, the varieties most preferred by the farmers are generally more susceptible. Further development of resistant cultivars from local germplasm, as reported above, is important for large scale control of the disease in East Africa.

Maps
Uganda:
<http://unimaps.com/uganda/mainmap.gif>  and <http://healthmap.org/r/0089>
African countries, overview: <http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/maps/africa.htm>

Pictures
Head smut on napier grass:
<http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Newpub/napier/images/figure5a.jpg>  and
<http://www.new-ag.info/image/032/dev01b.jpg>
Healthy napier grass:
<http://www.new-ag.info/image/032/dev01a.jpg>

Links
Information on napier head smut:
<http://www.kari.org/InfoBrochures/SmutDisNGrass.htm>,
<http://www.new-ag.info/03-2/develop/dev01.html>,
<http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd19/8/mwen19109.htm>  and
<http://www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts/Abstract.aspx?AcNo=20036793845>
Resistance breeding for napier smut:
<http://www.internationalgrasslands.org/publications/pdfs/id0952.pdf>
Diseases and importance of napier grass:
<http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13483188>  and <http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Newpub/napier/images/figure5a.jpg>
_U. kamerunensis_ taxonomy:
<http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/NamesRecord.asp?RecordID=242447>
- Mod.DHA]

[In keeping with a focus on one health, the above mentioned outbreak is significant for its impact on animal health in the region, and ultimately food security in the region. - Mod.MPP]