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.

Voandzou is a seed legume cultivated in Burkina Faso with significant nutritional potential. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of Bambara nut cultivated in Burkina Faso using microsatellite markers. For the study, fifteen SSRs markers were used for molecular characterization of 90 Bambara nut landraces from three agro-climatic zones of Burkina Faso. All markers were 100% polymorphic with an average value of 4.81 for effective alleles. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.654 to 0.867 with a mean of 0.775. Dendrogram classified the accessions in four mixed groups independently of the three agro-climatic zones. This distribution is consistent with the results on the agro-morphological characterization of the same landraces. This information was served as a basic model for breeding and conservation programs of V. subterranea in Burkina Faso.

Bambara groundnut has long been a neglected and understudied crop. Thanks to the new orientations for the développement of agriculture and achievement of food security in Burkina Faso, in recent years, studies on Bambara groundnut have experienced renewed interest. Despites nutritional, agronomic and socio-economic importance and some studies carried out on this crop. The diversity within Bambara groundnut cultivated remains poorly understood. The objective of this study was to assess phenological morphological and agronomic characterization of 20 Bambara groundnut accessions from National Institute for the Environment and Agricultural Research (INERA) genebank. The experimental device used was a completely randomized Fisher blocks with four replications on the site of University Centre of Tenkodogo. These accessions were evaluated on 23 morphological characters including four qualitative characters and 19 quantitative characters. Qualitative traits showed high proportion of oval terminal leaflet shape (70%), cream coloured seeds (45%) and 80% presence of eyes of various shapes and colours. The analysis of quantitative characters showed all the characters are discriminating except the plant spread (PlS) at the 5% treshold with regard to morphological, physiological and agronomic traits and low coefficient of variation (CV) values for the different phenological characters, except for the number of days from sowing to 50% plantlet emergence (EMG50). Pearson correlation matrix indicated positive and negative correlation. Most of the negative correlation was observed between phenological and agronomic traits The dendrogram showed organization of the variability in three different groups on the basis of the physiological, phenological and agronomic traits. The variability expressed among INERA gene bank genotypes showed important variability, which can be exploited in Bambara groundnut breeding programs using the clustering and associations of characters.