Research Article Germplasm Bred for Resistance to Striga hermonthica Exhibited High Resistance Levels to Striga asiatica Compared to Commercial Checks Vimbayi Dhliwayo, 1 Edmore Gasura , 2 Cacious Stanford Nyakurwa, 2 Stanford Mabasa, 2 Arnold Bray Mashingaidze, 1 and Peter Setimela 3 1 DepartmentofCropScienceandPost-HarvestTechnology,ChinhoyiUniversityofTechnology,P.Bag7724,Chinhoyi,Zimbabwe 2 Department of Plant Production Sciences and Technologies, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe 3 Global Maize Program, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), P.O. Box MP 163, Mt Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe Correspondence should be addressed to Edmore Gasura; gasurae@yahoo.com Received 10 April 2021; Accepted 22 June 2021; Published 9 July 2021 Academic Editor: Tibor Janda Copyright © 2021 Vimbayi Dhliwayo et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Parasitic weeds belonging to the Orobanchaceae family are a menace in Sub-Saharan African (SSA). Specifically, the two witchweeds from the genus Striga, S. hermonthica and S. asiatica, are jointly responsible for land abandonments and cereal yield reductions in the SSA. Factorial experiments involving fourteen maize genotypes and two levels of Striga asiatica infestation (infested and noninfested) were conducted under pot and laboratory experiments at the Department of Plant Production Sciences and Technologies, University of Zimbabwe, during the 2014/2015 season. A 14 × 2 factorial pot experiment was arranged in a 7 × 4 α-lattice design replicated four times, whereas the laboratory agar gel was arranged in a complete randomized design with four replications. Results revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) for S. asiatica and genotype main effects for the recorded traits. S. asiatica-infested genotypes had lower biomasses than noninfested ones. However, the University of Zimbabwe bred hybrids such as Ax31, Ax28, Ax7, and Ax32 had similar plant heights and stem, leaf, and cob biomass across the two Striga levels unlike the local checks, particularly SC513, SC537, and SC637, under Striga infestation. Moreover, these genotypes also had the least Striga germination percentage and furthest germination distance indicating that they are resistant/tolerant to Striga asiatica. e University of Zimbabwe bred hybrids, using Strigahermonthica resistance from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, exhibited resistance/tolerance to Striga asiatica compared to local checks. erefore, these varieties could offer a better and viable Striga spp. control option to farmers in both S. hermonthica and S. asiatica endemic areas. 1. Introduction In Africa, many smallholder farmers are seriously facing weed problems in their maize production systems, especially parasitic weeds. Among the most problematic parasitic weeds in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are the two Striga species: Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. and Striga asiatica L. Kuntze from the Orobanchaceae family [1–3]. However, Mabasa [4] reported Striga asiatica as the most prevalent of the Striga species in southern Africa with particular reference to Zimbabwe whereas S. hermonthica is more prevalent in the west and east of Africa, causing serious damage and crop yield reductions [5–7]. ese two Striga species affect maize, sorghum, and rice among other cereals through root attachment and are hence classified as obligate root parasites [8–10]. Striga spp. only germinates in the presence of germi- nation stimulants from the host crop [11, 12]. Germination stimulants known as strigolactones released by host crops such as maize are responsible for Striga spp. germination, Hindawi Advances in Agriculture Volume 2021, Article ID 9915370, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9915370