Involving Farmers in the Design of a Low-Input Control Programme for Sesame Flea Beetles in Southern Tanzania

Abstract

The results of a survey showed that one of the most critical constraints in sesame production in southern Tanzania is sesame¯ea beetle (Alocypha bimaculata, Jacoby). Local methods used by farmers to control, avoid or compensate for the damage caused by¯ea beetles were identi®ed. Farmers regarded resistance against the¯ea beetle as a very desirable objective in a sesame breeding programme, but a number of other important characteristics, such as disease and drought resistance, was also mentioned. At three locations in southern Tanzania twenty sesame varieties were screened for resistance to¯ea beetles by counting the number of surviving plants at the 1±2 true pairs of leaves growth stage. The results suggest that there were signi®cant dierences between varieties in terms of their susceptibility to this pest, which suggests that a resistance breeding programme may be successful.

Multivariate Analysis of Phenotypic Diversity of Landraces of Rice of West Bengal

“…These are often extended to the classification of a population into groups of distinct orders based on similarities in one or more characters, and thus guide in the choice of parents for hybridization [14,15]. The PCA has been used to partition observed agronomic variations into genotypes of many crops, such as rubber [16], rice [17] and sesame [18]. Various workers studied the relationships between different traits in different crops, such as, soybean [8], cassava [19].…”

Afrotropical flea beetle genera: a key to their identification, updated catalogue and biogeographical analysis (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae, Alticini)

“…Alocypha bimaculata is a harmful pest of Sesame ( Sesamum indicum L.) (Pedaliaceae) crops, particularly in Tanzania (Mponda et al 1997). …”