Curriculum (PDF) - Biovision

Week 12
Topic Duration What you need for this lesson
1 Napier stunt disease and its management 2 hours Samples of a diseased plant (Must be destroyed
immediately after use), a jembe
2 Recording desmodium pests on Push-pull
and seed multiplication plots
Topic 1: Napier stunt disease
and its management
Introduction
In eastern Africa (including Ethiopia), the
major threat to livestock production and
the adoption of Push-pull strategy comes
from Napier stunt disease. The disease
causes severe stunting of the Napier grass
and a severe yield reduction creating a
shortage of livestock feed. Napier stunt disease
is spread by insects.
At present, for small scale farmers, there
is no affordable control for Napier stunt
disease other than to remove and destroy
the affected plants. If you do not remove
the affected plants the disease will spread
very quickly to the healthy plants.
The symptoms of the disease appear only
during the regrowth of harvested Napier.
You need to recognize these symptoms
so that you can reduce the spread of the
disease.
Learning objective
On completion of this topic participants
will recognize symptoms of Napier stunt
disease and how to reduce its spread.
Learning activity
Facilitator-led introduction on:
• The importance of the disease and
how farmers can reduce its spread
both on their farms and on the other
farms
• Recognizing the symptoms of the
disease
1 hours Plastic jars or clear bottles, clear plastic bags
for handling the beetles
Practical exercise: Identifying and
destroying the affected plants
Discussions
Step 1: Discuss the symptoms
What to look
at
Healthy plant Diseased
plant
Colour Green Yellow
Leaves Wide Narrow
Height Tall Stunted
Internodes Long Short
Step 2: Walk in the field and identify and
record the diseased plants in the Push-pull
plots and other Napier grass on the farm.
Remove and destroy the diseased plants.
Step 3: Take a root split from a healthy Napier
grass and plant it where you uprooted the
diseased plant.
Note
The new plant will not be affected by the disease
simply by being planted in the same hole. The
disease is spread by insects.
Napier stunt disease incidence
Established
Push-pull
Vine established
Push-pull
Other Napier
grass on the farm
Yes No Number of
infected plants
Push-pull curriculum | 147