Screening of local and exotic maize lines for stem-borer resistance with special reference to Chilo partellus

After field screening local germplasm for stem-borer (Chilo partellus, Swin.) resistance for four seasons in two years we identified two sources of resistance, Katumani and Kitale. A cross between them performed better than either of the parents. When exotic lines from CIMMYT, Mexico, reported to be resistant to South and Central American stem-borers were screened at Mbita Point Field Station, to test and confirm their resistance to East African stem-borers, a number of them were found to be resistant to Chilo. It was also noted that the level of their resistance was higher and more broadly based than the local source. This shows that the source of origin is always full of genetic variability. This finding now suggests that a cross between the local and exotic sources should offer a wide scope in the multiple resistance or the multiline approach towards pest management.