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By Jolly Kabirizi
- Inspect the field regularly, and remove and destroy the infected plants.
- Use napier grass varieties that are tolerant to stunting disease.
- Use clean planting materials from disease-free areas.
- Use recommended agronomic practices (spacing, manure application, weeding, proper cutting intervals and cutting heights).
- Follow crop rotation.
- When harvesting, cut napier grass leaving a stubble height of 5 to 10cm above ground level.
- Improve the health of the napier grass by applying manure or fertilizer.
- If the area is seriously affected, use alternative fodder species such as Giant Panicum and, Guatemala grass because most napier varieties are susceptible to the stunt.
- Sensitize neighbours about the transmission mechanism and management of the disease.
- Contact scientists at the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI), Nakyesasa for technical advice and for napier grass varieties that are tolerant to the stunt disease.
How is napier grass stunt disease spread?
- Use of infected cuttings/planting materials
- Specific feeding insects, especially leaf hoppers and plant hoppers that feed on the sugar-rich sap in napier grass phloem
- Movement of planting materials and fodder by farmers
