We found QTL alleles for reduced Striga damage symptom and increased number of ears at harvest and grain yield under Striga infestation derived from the resistant line, which were consistently expressed across all environments and were anchored at a few common marker intervals in the same linkage groups, for possible use to carry out marker aided selection for resistance to this parasite.

Use of markers associated with such QTL alleles for selection may eliminate the bulk of Striga susceptible genotypes and thus may significantly reduce the amount of screening required to breed maize for resistance to S. hermonthica.

Verification of the putative markers identified from 607-2-1 x 1393 population using bulk segregant analysis from another population, 91-5-1 x 1393, found two AFLP markers that detected differences between bulks for numbers of emerged Striga plants and one AFLP marker that separated the two bulks for Striga damage symptom rating.

We found some inbred lines with large numbers of attached Striga plants to their roots but with few emerged Striga per plant in the green house and pot experiments, suggesting that different mechanisms of resistance to Striga may exist in maize.

Evaluation of three wild accessions from CIMMYT in pots under Striga infestation showed that these accessions supported fewer Striga per plant than a susceptible inbred lines. One of these accessions has been successfully crossed to maize inbred lines to transfer favorable alleles for resistance to Striga and other desirable agronomic traits.  

The new inbred lines derived from a backcross population involving Z. diploperennis and evaluated in diallel crosses had consistent reaction to S. hermonthica across locations, seasons and countries, suggesting that the resistance factors in the new lines seem to be stable across the different strains of S. hermonthica in Benin and Nigeria

The backcross population involving Z. diploperennis has been good sources of inbred lines, hybrids and germplasm supporting reduced numbers of Striga plants, which have been distributed widely through regional trials.