BackgroundMany fungal species in tropical Africa are useful, with high added value, and play essential roles in the structure and dynamic of ecosystems. However, the diversity, distribution, and uses by local populations of these non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and their respective habitats are still very poorly understood in sub-Saharan Africa in general and more specifically in Côte d’Ivoire. This study aims at (i) inventorying the wild useful mushrooms of Côte d’Ivoire within its major protected areas and their respective surrounding sociolinguistical groups, according to climatic and phytogeographical gradients, and (ii) recording ethnomycological knowledge and considerations of these local people.MethodsField and ethnomycological surveys were conducted in the main and highest protected areas of Côte d’Ivoire (Comoé, Marahoué, and Taï national parks) and a set of their respective surrounding villages, along climatic and phytogeographical gradients. Standardized methods (permanent plots and opportunistic searches) were used for field surveys. In addition, a total 748 respondents belonging to 13 ethnic groups were interviewed at a rate of 300 interviewees during the preliminary investigations and 448 persons during the proper ethnomycological surveys.ResultsSixty-eight useful wild fungal species, belonging to 17 families and 23 genera, were listed and collected. Four categories of usage were reported by the rural people (food, medicinal, belief and recreational), with a dominance of food and medicinal uses. Fifty-six species were reported to be used as food and 16 species as medicinal fungi. These uses varied not only from one sociolinguistical group to another but also from a visited village to another. The high number (41) of the reported useful species was found in the Sudano-Guinean savanna zone while 28 species were collected in the forest zone and 22 species in the forest-savanna mosaic zone. These mushrooms were either saprotrophic or symbiotic (ectomycorrhizal or termitophilic). Auricularia sp3, Psathyrella tuberculata, and Termitomyces spp. were found as the most commonly used mushrooms.ConclusionsThese national scale field and ethnomycological surveys give one of the more complete but non-exhaustive list of useful mushrooms of Côte d’Ivoire. Mushrooms are relatively well known and used by the Ivorian people within the main phytogeographical zone of the country. These people also have an interest in all the functional groups with an important phytogeographical zone-fungal-specific used species. However, protected areas of the visited zones seem to represent the last sanctuaries of these organisms due to high rate of loss of natural habitats.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13002-019-0284-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The mutualistic symbiosis between termites of the Macrotermitinae subfamily (Isoptera: Termitidae) and fungi of the genus Termitomyces (Basidiomycota: Lyophyllaceae) is of great ecological and socio-economic importance. Seasonal fruit bodies of the symbiotic fungi are regularly collected and sold in Côte d’Ivoire. However, there are very few studies on their diversity, phenology, distribution and especially the socio-economic scope of the fruit bodies of these fungi at a national scale. This study aims at (i) assessing the diversity of Termitomyces fruit bodies in Côte d’Ivoire and (ii) mapping their fructification areas through a determination of their spatiotemporal distribution according to a climatic and phytogeographic gradients. Using ethnomycological surveys all over the Ivorian territory, information was collected from rural populations on the fructification of Termitomyces and their socio-economic importance. Based on these surveys, sampling efforts of these fungi were properly structured and oriented. The results revealed a diversity of 16 species of Termitomyces, including 9 species new to Côte d’Ivoire and 2 probably new to science. Five species were found in the forest zone, nine in theGuinean savannah zone and four in the Sudano-Guinean zone. Termitomyces’s fructifications were observed throughout the year, with specific period for each species. All listed species are regularly consumed by populations. However, only Termitomyces letestui (Pat.) R. Heim and Termitomyces schimperi (Pat.) R. Heim are marketed on a relatively large scale.

Accurate identification of varieties is paramount to optimizing efficiencies in the management and conservation of genetic resources. A relatively inexpensive, rapid methodology is required to identify putative duplicates from any collection, when morphological traits give insufficient discrimination. Here we select a panel of 36 SNPs, visualized using the Kompetitive Allele-specific PCR (KASP) system. We used a panel of 95 cassava genotypes from Côte d’Ivoire to identify varieties that are not duplicates and few potential duplicates which could be put forward for further verification. The genetic variability and population structure of the germplasm is also described. 36 SNPs were polymorphic across the panel of 95 varieties with polymorphic information contents ranging from 0.23 to 0.37. Using these SNPs, we were able to identify 66 unique genotypes from the panel of 95 genotypes, discriminate three sets of known duplicates and identify 11 sets of unknown putative duplicates which can be subjected to further verification using higher density genotyping. As expected in an outcrossing species, both expected heterozygosity (0.46) and observed heterozygosity (0.48) were high with an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicating that the majority of variation was within individuals. Three statistical approaches i.e., hierarchical ascending clustering, Bayesian analysis and discriminant analysis of principal components were used and all revealed low genetic differentiation between sub-populations, a conclusion that was supported by the low value of the fixation index (0.05). This panel of SNPs can be used to enhance cost-effectiveness and efficiency of germplasm conservation and enhance quality control at various stages in the breeding process through varietal tracking.