Boost as Kenya scientists develop weed-resistant sorghum variety

Kenya’s scientists have developed a sorghum variety that is resistant to striga weed, providing a major boost towards achieving food security in the arid and semi-arid areas where the crop is majorly grown. The striga smart sorghum has been developed through modern technology of gene editing, which involves the use of naturally occurring molecular scissors to improve crops interaction with the environment for better traits such as weed resistance. The invention has been done by Steven Runo, an Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology at Kenyatta University. “Striga is a parasitic weed that attaches itself to roots of host crops such as maize, sorghum, millet, rice (mainly cereals) and it sucks out nutrients and kills the host crop. The striga weed is a major threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Prof Runo. This new variety of sorghum has been tested in Busia, Kisumu and HomaBay counties where the weed is common. According to ...