Effects Of Climate Variability On Dodder Invasion, Distribution And Management In Belgut Area Of Kericho County, Kenya

ABSTRACT Parasitic weeds are plants that have evolutionarily lost autotrophic way of life during their development stages. Dodder, a plant of the Cuscuta species, is one such invasive parasitic weed with a wide range of world geographic distribution and host diversity. In Kenya, dodder is common in counties at the Coast, Central, Nyanza, Western and Rift valley. The plant is alleged to parasitize on a variety of perennial crops, wild and domesticated trees and shrubs thus affecting host vigor quality and quantities of crop yields, in particular the socio-economic reliance on crops infested by…