MLN Phenotyping Services for Partners

KALRO and CIMMYT have been screening germplasm against MLN in Kenya since Nov 2012. The dedicated screening facility at KALRO Naivasha was established in 2013. This facility now represents a high-quality phenotyping platform, permitting large-scale screening of germplasm from regional partners (both public and private sectors).

The following table shows the number of entries and rows screened for National Research System (NRS) partners and seed companies since 2014. Partners using the Naivasha screening site in 2015-2021 include:

Year CIMMYT NARS Total 
Private Seed companies
Entries Rows Entries Rows Entries Rows Entries Rows
2014 25715 52854 5133 10627 10421 17102 41,269 80,583
2015 7022 10284 3372 5077 3263 4038 13,657 19,399
2016 23789 33537 10913 12791 10217 12739 44,919 59,067
2017 16174 24066 4580 5867 4162 6878 24,916 36,811
2018 29816 31954 8548 8165 8332 8735 46,696 48,854
2019 21563 35891 1047 2094 3169 5774 25,779 43,759
2020 4123 9680 939 3604 2397 6316 7,459 19,600
2021 5841 13718 2125 4250 2661 3973 10,627 21,941
2022 6604 16159 1571 2939 1570 3120 9745 22,218
2023 9664 21437 892 1798 1225 3932 5060 12507
Total 143,590 234,920 39,120 57,212 47,417 72,607 230,127 364,739

MLN Screening is done free of charge for NARS within an established limited number of rows.

** MLN Screening is done on a cost-recovery basis for private sector partners

Summary of MLN phenotyping done at MLN screening facility, Naivasha:

Partner Type Entries Rows % Rows
CIMMYT 143,590 234,920 64
NARS 39,120 57212 16
Private Partners 43,522 72607 20
Total  211,032 321,619

To date, close to 80% of materials screened at Naivasha is susceptible under artificial inoculation. However, resistant/tolerant materials have been identified. Four first-generation MLN tolerant /resistant hybrids have been released in East Africa and a further 15-17 second-generation hybrids are at advanced stages of testing.