Parasitic Plants in African Agriculture (eBook)

Lytton John Musselman (Author) Lytton John Musselman is Mary Payne Hogan Professor Botany, and Manager of the Blackwater Ecologic Preserve in the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion where he also served as Department Chair. His research centres on the biology of parasitic angiosperms, especially those in the Middle East and Africa. Recipient of four Fulbright Awards (Sudan, West Bank, Jordan, Brunei Darussalam), he has also been a Visiting Professor at the American University of Beirut, and the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani. He is co-founder and co-editor of Haustorium, the newsletter of the International Parasitic Plants Society, and served as a consultant to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas. His most recent books are Edible Wild Plants of the Carolinas: A Forager's Companion (with Peter W. Schafran) 2021, and Solomon Described Plants: A Botanical Guide to Plant Life in the Bible (2022).Jonne Rodenburg (Author) Jonne Rodenburg is Professor of Agronomy at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, the UK, where he teaches postgraduate students on weed and parasitic weed biology and management, agronomy and crop physiology. He researches sustainable agricultural intensification and the biology, ecology and management of parasitic weeds in annual field crop production systems in Africa. He worked and published extensively on root parasitic weeds, both obligate and facultative, as recipient of grants including from the Dutch Research Council NWO, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and The Royal Society. From 2004 to 2018 he worked at the Africa Rice Center as agronomist focussing on weed management in rice, with subsequent home bases in Mali, Benin, Senegal, Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire. He is the current vice-president and president-elect of the International Parasitic Plants Society, subject editor at the European Weed Research Society journal Weed Research, published by Wiley, and associate editor at the Elsevier journal Field Crops Research.

I. Introduction to parasitic plants. The definition of a parasitic angiosperm and the central role of the parasitic organ, the haustorium. Types of parasites: stem, root, facultative, obligate

II. Major groups of parasitic plants, taxonomy and behaviour.

III. Stem parasites

Mistletoes, the least studied but largest and most diverse group and most difficult to control of African parasites. Impact on rubber and cola production

Love vine, Cassytha filiformis. A minor problem in mango and cashew orchards but potential for other tree crops.

Dodders, species of Cuscuta. Serious crop losses in row crops and lucerne.

IV. Root parasites

Facultative. Rhamphicarpa on rice.

Obligate. The most serious weed in many parts of Africa

Witchweeds. Extensive research on germination biochemistry and role of strigolactones. Remains a devasting impact on subsistence crops. The most serious group of parasitic plants on the continent. Species of Striga and Alectra treated under this category.

Broomrapes. A problem in tomatoes and several legume crops.

V. Control

Chemical. Numerous herbicides have been developed with great efficacy.

Culture. Weeding reduces the seed bank but has little effect on crop loss.

Breeding for resistance. A promising approach for the small holder.
Push-Pull. An elegantly simple control that uses trap crops that stimulate the germination of witchweed but do not support parasitism. Currently being advised in several African countries.

VI. Economic impact