Abstract
Enset (Ensete ventricosum), is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the family Musaceae, along with banana and plantain. Despite wild populations occurring in eastern, central and southern Africa, it is only in Ethiopia that the crop has been domesticated, where it is culturally and agriculturally symbolic as a food security crop. Although an under-researched orphan crop, enset serves as a staple food for about 20% of the Ethiopian population, comprising more than 20 million people, demonstrating its value in the country. Similar to banana and plantain, enset is heavily affected by plant-parasitic nematodes, with recent studies indicating record levels of infection by the root lesion nematode Pratylenchus goodeyi. Enset is propagated vegetatively using suckers that are purposely initiated from the mother corm. However, while banana and plantain suckers have proven to be a key source of nematode infection and spread, knowledge on the infection levels and role of enset suckers in nematode dissemination is lacking. Given the high levels of plant-parasitic nematodes reported in previous surveys, it is therefore speculated that planting material may act as a key source of nematode dissemination. To address this lack of information, we assessed enset planting material in four key enset growing zones in Ethiopia. A total of 340 enset sucker samples were collected from farmers and markets and analyzed for the presence of nematodes. Nematodes were extracted using a modified Baermann method over a period of 48 h. The root lesion nematode P. goodeyi was present in 100% of the samples, at various levels of infection. These conclusive results show that planting material is indeed a key source of nematode infection in enset, hence measures taken to ensure clean suckers for planting will certainly mitigate nematode infection and spread. The effect of nematode infection on yield and quality on enset remains to be investigated and would be a way forward to complement the nematode/disease studies conducted so far and add valuable knowledge to the current poorly known impact of pests and diseases.
Highlights
Described as the “tree against hunger” (Costa and Lockhart, 1984), enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a perennial monocarpic single-stemmed herbaceous plant belonging to the family Musaceae, along with banana and plantain
Given the sparse knowledge by farmers of nematodes, as well as the current high incidence and levels of P. goodeyi infection on enset (Kidane et al, 2020), it is speculated that, similar to banana and plantain, nematodes are being disseminated to newly planted farms through the use of infected enset suckers
Enset suckers aged between 1–2 years were collected from farmers (Figures 1A,B) and markets (Figure 2) in September– October 2019 in four key enset growing zones in Ethiopia (Dawro, Keffa, Guraghe and Wolayita) (Figure 3)
Summary
Described as the “tree against hunger” (Costa and Lockhart, 1984), enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a perennial monocarpic single-stemmed herbaceous plant belonging to the family Musaceae, along with banana and plantain. On a regular basis, approximately 20% of the Ethiopian population depends on enset as a key staple food crop, primarily in the south and southwestern part of the country (Borrell et al, 2019, 2020). It is used for several other purposes, such as animal feed, fibre, construction material and in traditional medicine. Given the sparse knowledge by farmers of nematodes, as well as the current high incidence and levels of P. goodeyi infection on enset (Kidane et al, 2020), it is speculated that, similar to banana and plantain, nematodes are being disseminated to newly planted farms through the use of infected enset suckers. The current study was undertaken to assess the infection status of enset planting materials as a basis for developing suitable nematode management options
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