Maize production systems, farmers’ perception and current status of Maize Lethal Necrosis in selected counties in Kenya

Project abstract: Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) is a complex disease with multiple reservoirs and transmission pathways. Therefore, the current study was conducted in a comprehensive way to understand the status of MLN in selected counties and farmers’ maize production practices and their understanding of MLN. In this regard, a survey of 406 randomly selected farmers’ was conducted in 5 counties in Kenya including Bomet, Narok, Kirinyaga, Embu, and Nakuru. In addition, symptomatic and asymptomatic maize leaves samples were collected from 18 fields in Narok, Bomet, and Kirinyaga and tested for MCMV and SCMV by RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing. Symptoms varied in maize ranging from the most common mosaic and streak to severe leaf mottling and necrosis as well as stunting and premature plant death. Yield losses of up to 100 % were reported due to MLN. MCMV and SCMV were detected in all the maize growing regions at varying levels of incidence, and severity. Sequence analysis of the coat protein genes of randomly selected positive samples of the two viruses showed little variability within the studied isolates and those retrieved from the Gene Bank. The results indicated that MLN is still prevalent in Kenya. In addition, the breeding process to release MLN tolerant varieties should not focus on the conventional breeding methods but also on alternative ways such as the use of biotechnology to fasten the breeding process.

Maize production systems, farmers' perception and current status of Maize Lethal Necrosis in Maize production systems, farmers' perception and current status of Maize Lethal Necrosis in selected counties in Kenya selected counties in Kenya Data Collection Data Collection What data will you collect or create? What data will you collect or create? Quantitative and qualitative data to be input in excel Molecular biology data How will the data be collected or created? How will the data be collected or created? A participatory rural appraisal will be used where a set of questions will be set and asked, the inputs will be uploaded in an online data repositoty (https://kf.kobotoolbox.org) For the molecular work, leaf samples will be collected, analysed by PCR, cDNA synthesis and sanger sequencing Documentation and Metadata Documentation and Metadata What documentation and metadata will accompany the data? What documentation and metadata will accompany the data?
The questionnaire data will be stored in the Kobo toolbox under a defined username and password, the data will be uploaded in excel and frequency analysis, averages done. ANOVA analysis to test the variance in the data will be done in R, correlation test will also be done in R The total nucleic acid will be extracted from the leaf samples for molecular analysis, using primers specific for the gene being target, PCR and cDNA synthesis will be done and results confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis which will be saved as an image positive samples will be sent for sanger sequencing, and the results analyzed by Finchtv and Bioedit, sequence analysis will be done by BLASTN and phylogenetic tree constructed in MegaX Ethics and Legal Compliance Ethics and Legal Compliance How will you manage any ethical issues? How will you manage any ethical issues? The participants of the questionnaire will be anonymized, Ethical clearance has been sought from the NACOSTI-Kenya, allowing for the conduct of the research in Kenya and also Sokoine University postgraduate board has given authorization for the conduction of this study How will you manage copyright and Intellectual Property Rights (IP/IPR) issues? How will you manage copyright and Intellectual Property Rights (IP/IPR) issues? The data belongs to faith njeru, any reuse of the data, permissions have to be sought from Faith

Storage and Backup Storage and Backup
How will the data be stored and backed up during the research? How will the data be stored and backed up during the research? Data will be downloaded and stored in laptops, backup data is in the online repository of Kobo Collect How will you manage access and security? How will you manage access and security? To access the data in the Kobo Collect app, one will need to login with a username and password

Selection and Preservation Selection and Preservation
Which data are of long-term value and should be retained, shared, and/or preserved? Which data are of long-term value and should be retained, shared, and/or preserved? The sequencing data will be stored for future comparisons with other sequences What is the long-term preservation plan for the dataset? What is the long-term preservation plan for the dataset? to be determined no

Responsibilities and Resources Responsibilities and Resources
Who will be responsible for data management? Who will be responsible for data management? faith njeru will be responsible for data management What resources will you require to deliver your plan? What resources will you require to deliver your plan? none

Planned Research Outputs Planned Research Outputs
Dataset -"Excel output of the questionnaire" Dataset -"Excel output of the questionnaire"