Abstract:

Striga is an obligate plant parasitic weed infesting the roots of the host
plants especially of Graminae (grass) family. It survives by siphoning
water and nutrients required for its growth from maize and other
cereals. Usually, Striga seed overwinters in the soil, but the presence
of maize root exudates triggers its germination. On germination Striga
develops haustoria which penetrates and subsequently colonizes the
maize root cells. After colonizing the maize plant, Striga remains
underground where it may spend 4 – 7 weeks before emergence. On
emerging it rapidly grows to flowering and seed production, shortly
before drying. Each Striga plant is capable of producing numerous
seeds; for instance S. Hermonthica can produce up to 200,000 seeds
while S. asiatica can produce up to 58,000 seeds. In order to develop
a sustainable control strategy, knowledge of Striga life cycle is very
important as it enables identification of the most critical stage(s) that
ought to be targeted by the control measure