Moses Thuita

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

Chickpea is the world’s third most important food legume next to bean and soybean. Ethiopia is the largest producer of chickpea in Africa. However, chickpea production is very low due to poor soil fertility, poor nodulation and lack of inoculation with effective rhizobia. Although breeding for improved cultivar for better production and disease res...

An active microbial community of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria is needed for efficient utilization of nitrogenous compounds from wastewater. In this study, we explored the bacterial community diversity and structure within rivers, treated and untreated wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) discharging into Lake Victoria. Water samples were col...

A vast majority of terrestrial plants are dependent on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for their nutrient acquisition. AMF act as an extension of the root system helping phosphate uptake. In agriculture, harnessing the symbiosis can potentially increase plant growth. Application of the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis has been demonstrated to increas...

Water scarcity negatively impacts global crop yields and climate change is expected to greatly increase the severity of future droughts. The use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can potentially mitigate the effects of water stress in plants. Cassava is a crop that feeds approximately 800 million people daily. Genetically different isolates of...

There is a wide application of rhizobia inoculants to legume crops in Africa, irrespective of the soil acidity, though the latter limits the effectiveness of inoculants. Two trials were conducted in a controlled environment to determine suitable soil pH and impact of liming on soybean nodulation and nitrogen fixation to inform proper application of...

Increased adoption of improved agricultural technologies is considered an essential step to address global poverty and hunger, and agronomic trials suggest intensification in developing countries could result in large yield gains. Yet the promise of new technologies does not always carry over from trials to real-life conditions, and diffusion of ma...

For all living organisms, nitrogen is an essential element, while being the most limiting in ecosystems and for crop production. Despite the significant contribution of synthetic fertilizers, nitrogen requirements for food production increase from year to year, while the overuse of agrochemicals compromise soil health and agricultural sustainabilit...

The unprecedented challenge to feed the rapidly growing human population can only be achieved with major changes in how we combine technology with agronomy1. Despite their potential few beneficial microbes have truly been demonstrated to significantly increase productivity of globally important crops in real farming conditions2,3. The way microbes...

Declines in soil fertility and limited access to inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer constrain crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa. The incorporation of organic residues could increase nutrient mineralization and replenish soil carbon (C), however, the effect that long-term residue management (10+ years) has on maize (Zea mays L.) yields and soil n...

Rhizobia inoculation can increase soybean yield, but its performance is influenced by among others soybean genotype, rhizobia strains, environment, and crop management. The objective of the study was to assess soybean response to rhizobia inoculation when grown in soils amended with urea or vermicompost to improve nitrogen levels. Two greenhouse ex...

Low soil fertility has been a major factor to low maize yields in smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa. Technologies have been proposed including inorganic, fertilizers and plant growth promoting microorganisms. A study was conducted under greenhouse and field conditions to evaluate the effects of liquid inorganic fertilizer and microbiological...

Rhizobia inoculation can increase soybean yield, but its performance is influenced by soybean genotype, rhizobia strains, environment, and crop management among others. The objective of the study was to assess soybean response to rhizobia inoculation when grown in soils amended with urea or Vermicompost to improve nitrogen levels. Two greenhouse ex...

Chickpea is the world's third most important food legume next to bean and soybean. Ethiopia is the largest producer of chickpea in Africa. However, chickpea production is very low due to poor soil fertility, poor nodulation and lack of inoculation with effective rhizobia. In this study a total of 39 root nodule bacteria were collected from nodules...

Soybean grain yields in sub-Saharan Africa have remained at approximately 50% below those attained in South America despite numerous efforts. A study was conducted in Siaya County (western Kenya) involving 107 farms with soils of different fertility status. The main objective was to test combinations of two inoculants (Legumefix and Biofix) and nut...

Cowpea N2 fixation and yield can be enhanced by selecting competitive and efficient indigenous rhizobia. Strains from contrasting agro-ecologies of Kilifi and Mbeere (Kenya) were screened. Two pot experiments were established consisting of 13 Bradyrhizobium strains; experiment 1 (11 Mbeere + CBA + BK1 from Burkina Faso), experiment 2 (12 Kilifi + C...

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) is an important African food legume suitable for dry regions. It is the main legume in two contrasting agro-ecological regions of Kenya as an important component of crop rotations because of its relative tolerance to unpredictable drought events. This study was carried out in an effort to establish a collection o...

Low and declining soil fertility has been recognized for a long time as a major impediment to intensifying agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Consequently, from the inception of international agricultural research, centres operating in SSA have had a research programme focusing on soil and soil fertility management, including the Internationa...

To address the problem of decreasing food production and livelihoods resulting from declining soil fertility in Kenya, the conservation and sustainable use of soil micro organisms is critical. To realize this purpose, effective and infective commercial rhizobial inoculants have been evaluated and identified. However, the absence or presence of infe...

Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam] yields currently stand at 4.5 t ha⁻¹ on smallholder farms in Uganda, despite the attainable yield (45–48 t ha⁻¹) of NASPOT 11 cultivar comparable to the potential yield (45 t ha⁻¹) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). On-farm field experiments were conducted for two seasons in the Mt Elgon High Farmlands and Lake Vict...

Nitrogen (N) fixation through legume-Rhizobium symbiosis is important for enhancing agricultural productivity and is therefore of great economic interest. Growing evidence indicates that other soil beneficial bacteria can positively affect symbiotic performance of rhizobia. Nodule endophytic plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) were isolated...

Land degradation in the smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa is mainly related to insufficient adoption of sustainable agriculture technologies. This study was aimed at investigating the potential of biological inoculants to improve crop yields and control plant diseases in a profitable manner. Three rhizobia inoculants for soybean or...

Use of inorganic fertilizer is an essential practice to optimize crop productivity in the poor fertility soils in sub-Saharan Africa, but it has been linked to high cost of crop production, contamination of surface and/or ground water by nitrate leaching and eutrophication of surface water by phosphate run-off. Besides, secondary effects on soil bi...

Agriculture intensification has resulted in severe soil nutrient depletion in Africa. Alternative agricultural practices have been promoted to reduce the use of expensive mineral fertilizers and to restore and sustain soil fertility. The use of mineral fertilizer combined with organic inputs (such as crop residues) and different cropping systems (c...

During recent decennia, new commercial products have appeared on the market as alternatives to common fertilizers. While some of these products are based on well-established technologies, such as rhizobium inoculation, others have not been subjected to scientific scrutiny. During 3 years, we evaluated over 80 of these new products, including microb...

Acacia senegal is of paramount importance in sub Saharan Africa because it produces gum arabic. Inoculation with specific rhizobial strains improves the vigour of the trees but also positively enhances the gum arabic production of mature trees. A host-specific cocktail of Ensifer strains was used to inoculate mature A. senegal trees in Burkina Faso...

Stable soil aggregates and high microbial diversity are essential for efficient nutrient recycling in soil. This study evaluated effects of different arable land-use systems on soil aggregation and associated composition and total diversity of bacteria and fungi. For this purpose, 5- and 3-year-old field trials were selected, two in sub-humid (orth...

Low effectiveness of native strains remains a limitation to soybean productivity in sub-Saharan Africa; while in other countries commercial inoculants are produced that provide effective strains that stimulate N fixation and growth. An experiment was set up to evaluate the response of a dual purpose promiscuous soybean variety (TGx1740-2F) and a no...

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region continues to experience perennial hunger, poverty and poor health of its people. Agricultural production has remained low over decades and is declining to extremely low staple maize yields below 0.5 t ha–1 season–1 at the smallholder farm scale, against the potential of 4–5 t ha–1 season–1 given modest levels of inp...

In Kenya, soil acidity is a major contributor to declining soil fertility and 20% of the soils are acidic and are considered to be of low fertility. Most farmers are unaware of the benefits of liming acid soils. A study was carried out during the 2005 and 2006 long rain seasons at Kuinet in Uasin Gishu District of the Rift Valley Province in Kenya...

In Kenya, smallholder farmers practice maize–bean intercropping. Low nutrient levels in soils result in low yields for both crops. Farmers plant both maize and beans in the same hill or between maize rows, which results in low yields. In the MBILI (Managing Beneficial Interactions for Legume Intercrops) system, the spatial rearrangement gives high...

Crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa are low and unsustainable, reflecting prolonged food insecurity in the region. In Western Kenya, maize (staple) yields at small scale farm level rarely exceed 0.5 t/ ha/ season. These low yields are largely explained in terms of droughts and depleted nutrients in soils, among other reasons. Thus the farmland soils...