Management Of Smut Disease And Analysis Of Nutritional Value Of Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor (L) Moench) In Central Tanzania

ABSTRACT

Sorghum smut disease is one of the serious constrain in sorghum production especially when seeds are not treated before planting, where grain yield loss of up to 80% is reported in different parts of the world. A study was conducted to increase the potential of sorghum productivity by enhancing smut disease management in Central Zone of Tanzania. The field experiment was laid out in 6 x 4 (Sorghum varieties x fungicides) factorial in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications whereby sorghum samples from each variety were analyzed for proximate composition. Results revealed that there was a very highly significant difference observed among sorghum varieties tested (p< 0.05) on disease incidence and severity. The lowest incidence and severity of 4.57 and 11.41% were recorded on NACO Mtama1which also corresponded with the highest grain yield 3210kg/ha, while the highest incidence (22.18%) and Severity (19.07%) which also corresponded with the lowest grain yield 2380kg/ha were in Langalanga landrace. For fungicides the lowest disease incidence (3.71%) and severity (11.15%) were with application of Apron star while the highest incidence (36.93%) and severity (26.68%) were recorded on control. Apron star, the seed dressing fungicide application led to the highest yield while the lowest was from control with no fungicide application. The proximate analysis revealed that sorghum samples contains appreciable nutrient contents whereby protein content ranged from 7.14 – 10.16 g, fat 3.34 – 5.34 g, Fibre 1.12 – 2.00g, total carbohydrate 74.89 - 78.15g.From the present study, NACO Mtama1 has shown promising results as potential variety for sorghum production and source of resistance to smut disease, while the fungicide Apron Star is recommended for smut management in central part of Tanzania, due to the lowest 3 smut disease incidence, highest grain yield and highest net profit among other methods of sorghum smut management.