REMERCIEMENTS Nous exprimons notre profonde reconnaissance à la fondation Mcknight pour son soutien financier dans la réalisation de ce travail. RESUMELe voandzou constitue avec le niébé, les deux principales légumineuses alimentaires pour de nombreuses populations rurales et la frange pauvre des citadins au Burkina Faso. Cependant, des informations émanant de l'environnement de production de cette culture selon la perception des producteurs sont quasi inexistantes. Cette étude vise à s'informer au mieux des réalités sociales, environnementales et techniques qui entourent la production de cette culture. Les données collectées auprès des producteurs à l'aide des fiches d'enquêtes ont été soumises à une analyse fréquentielle. La culture du voandzou est pratiquée majoritairement par les femmes sur des petites superficies sans apport de fertilisants. Les maladies foliaires et les insectes de stock constituent les principales contraintes biotiques. Les producteurs conservent la semence dans des bidons fermés hermétiquement. Le cycle moyen des variétés cultivées est de 90 jours. La variété préférée est celle de couleur crème à hile blanc pour ses qualités organoleptiques, agronomiques et esthétiques. Le manque de sensibilisation sur la qualité nutritionnelle de la culture, l'insuffisance d'activités de recherche sur les techniques innovantes pour améliorer son système de production et les contraintes biotiques et abiotiques expliquent en grande partie la faible productivité et production de cette culture. © 2016 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Mots clés: Culture, Voandzou, Burkina Faso, productivité. Overview of the culture of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdcourt) inBurkina Faso : Issues and prospects for improving its productivity ABSTRACT Bambara groundnut is, with cowpea, the two main food legumes for many rural and poor urban fringes in Burkina Faso. However, information from the production environment of this culture as perceived by A. OUOBA et al/ Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. 10(2): 652-665, 2016 653 producers is almost nonexistent. This study aims at collecting information about social, environmental and technical realities surrounding the production of this crop. The data collected from producers using survey forms were subjected to a frequency analysis. Bambara groundnut cultivation is mainly practiced by women on small areas without adding fertilizers. Foliar diseases and insects in stock are major biotic constraints. Producers retain the seed in cans tightly closed. The average cycle of cultivated varieties is 90 days. The favorite variety is the cream-colored white hilum for its organoleptic, agronomic and aesthetic qualities. Lack of awareness on the nutritional quality of culture, the lack of research on innovative techniques to improve its production system and the biotic and abiotic constraints largely explain the low productivity and production of this crop.

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) is an African legume with a great nutritional, economic and social potential. However, one of the main constraints to this crop is viral diseases which reduced yields. Indeed, approximately 12 viruses have been reported to infect bambara groundnut. Among these, only four were reported from Burkina Faso, namely, cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV), bean common mosaic virus strain-blackeye cowpea mosaic (BCMV-BlCM), peanut mottle virus (PeMoV), and cowpea mottle virus (CPMoV). This study was carried out in order to identify and characterize the main viruses occurring in bambara groundnut from Burkina Faso using serological and molecular tests. 140 plants were sampled in the three agro-climatic zones of Burkina Faso. Both Potyvirus CABMV and BCMV-BlCM were identified in 8.57% of the samples when double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) test was used and 14.29% of the samples when reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was used. Phylogenetic tree based on 476 nt in coat protein showed that all Burkina Faso CABMV isolates clustered together with Uganda isolate (KT726938). However, two groups were distinguished within these isolates. Burkina Faso BCMVBlCM isolates are strengthly clustered with BCMV and BlCMV group. This study reports the first molecular characterization of CABMV and BCMV-BlCM infecting Bambara groundnut in Burkina Faso.

Objective: This study aims to characterize and assess the variability within the ginger accessions growing in Burkina Faso for morphometric and agronomic traits in order to identify appropriate strategies for the future breeding program. Methodology and Results: The experiment was conducted with 56 accessions in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. Moderate diversity was observed for morphometric and agronomic characters. The linear Pearson's correlations between rhizome yield and rhizome weight per plant were significantly positives with the other characters, except days taken to maturity, which were negatives. Plant height was strongly associated with number of leaves, leaf length and rhizome width. The accessions gathering into two groups is not made according to their origin, but mainly on the basis of the characters such as rhizome yield, rhizome weight per plant, rhizome length, and plant height. Conclusion and application: The ginger germplasm characterization is useful and has made it possible to understand the basic information for development of a scientific strategy for the efficient conservation of ginger. Strong associations between yield components and plant seize are important selection indices of rhizome yield and may be emphasized in the breeding programs for genetic improvement. Moreover, the model of clustering of the accessions can be used as a base for the choice of genotypes with interesting agro-morphological characteristics for the improvement of ginger productivity.

Objective: This study aims to update the database of fungi associated to Bambara groundnut foliar diseases in Burkina Faso using both molecular and morphological identification approaches. Methodology and Results: In this study, molecular approach based on the sequencing of ITS (Internal Transcripted Spacer) region of fungi and morphological approach were used to identify the main fungi associated to Bambara groundnut foliar diseases. The study was performed with universal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer ITS1/ITS4. BlastN comparisons between 19 fungal isolates contigs of the 16 major fungi were produced by their DNA sequences assembly and GenBank sequences yielded identity scores of 99 to 100 % with all of them. The degrees of similarity between these contigs and the loci sequences of classified fungi in GenBank indicate that our fungal isolates are the same species with those in Genbank, particularly the first of the list show after the blastN. It is the first report of molecular characterization of the main fungi infecting Bambara groundnut in Burkina Faso. Conclusion and Application of results: Nineteen fungi associated to Bambara groundnut foliar diseases were identified and can be taken as targets in varietal improvement of Bambara groundnut for resistance to fungal diseases in Burkina Faso.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is one the most important crops in Burkina Faso. Knowledge of the genetic parameters of different pearl millet landraces grown in Burkina Faso is of great importance for improvement and breeding programs of pearl millet. In this study, 20 pairs of SSR markers were used to compare and analyze the genetic diversity of 86 landrace populations. Results show a total of 67 alleles detected and each locus varies between 2 and 6 with an average of 4 alleles per marker. The probability to having two different alleles per locus was 0.61. The values of genetic diversity parameters of pearl millet populations from the northern region of the country were higher than those from the others regions. The analysis indicates that, over time, alleles are lost and new alleles are added. Analysis of molecular variance showed genetic variation was primarily a function of differences in cultivated populations. Most pairwise FST comparisons between provenances were at a statistically significant level. Our study will provide a scientific basis for the effective management and utilization of germplasm resources of pearl millet populations.