Village Baseline Study: Site Analysis Report for Kaffrine – Kaffrine, Senegal

The village baseline study of Toune Mosquée village in the CCAFS benchmark site Kaffrine in Senegal took place from June 2 to 4, 2011. Natural resources in the village are in a progressive state of degradation. The ‘protected’ forest has almost disappeared, the soils have low fertility and are degraded, and crop production is not sufficient to meet the food needs of a family throughout the year. Families must buy food to fill the gap in production. For that they harvest and sell forest products, which creates a vicious cycle of resource degradation. The male and female groups identified 35 organisations operating in the village including informal groups, state services, associations, NGOs and Muslim brotherhoods. While 18 of those work on food security issues, only 4 are involved in the management and protection of natural resources. Very few agricultural extension and training opportunities target women despite the women’s significant role in agriculture and livestock production. Women obtain information on livestock feeding techniques from people and organisations such as the horticultural project, women’s associations, and water and forest services. Men get information on soil inputs and soil fertility management from other farmers, organisations, radio and television, and from community leaders, notably the office of the village chief and the mosque on Fridays. The radio is the form of media most commonly used by the women but few women own a radio

Diversity of woodlands in the groundnut basin of Kaffrine region in Senegal

Objective: This work has examined the current state of woodlands in the groundnut basin to determine its importance Methodology and results: The floristic diversity of woodlands in the Groundnut Basin of was studied through ecological parameters. The woody flora contained 75 species with a predominance of three (3) families (Combretaceae, Mimosaceae and Caesalpiniaceae) represented by more than six (6) species. The statements from the four targeted rural communities indicated: 31 species for Ndiognick, 43 for Birkelane, 46 for Saly Escale and 48 for Ida mouride. The overall average density was 17 individuals/ha and varied depending on rural communities: 7 individuals/ha for Ndiognick, 9 individuals/ha for Birkelane, 18 individuals for Ida mouride and 39 individuals for Saly Escale. In Ndiognick and Birkelane rural communities, the cover was lower because they were less provided in species (Cordyla pinnata, Combretum glutinosum, Piliostigma reticulatum and Adansonia digitata) with summits higher than 5m2/ha. The flora and the woody vegetation selected parameters indicated that the level of organization of the woody species was not similar as well as the pressure on the woody species in the rural communities. The diversity of the wood species was reducing due to anthropogenic action and the deterioration due to climate conditions. Key words: Diversity floristic, diversity index, impact inde

Quantification de la biomasse aérienne des palétuviers du genre Rhizophora au Delta du Saloum (Sénégal)

L’étude de la biomasse aérienne des palétuviers a fait l’objet d’un  inventaire dans quatre unités d’échantillonnage. Quinze parcelles  permanentes ont aussi permis d’étudier les effets de certains facteurs dumilieu sur la biomasse. Dans les strates de hauteur moyenne, la biomasse sèche des racines aériennes la plus élevée est de 67 tonnes à l’hectare chez R. mangle. Dans les strates hautes, celle la plus élevée est de 83,3tonnes à l’hectare. Ces deux grandes quantités de biomasse racinaire supportent aussi les biomasses sèches de tiges et autres parties les plus élevées dans la zone. En termes de comparaison, le pic de la biomasse sèche des tiges et autres parties est observé chez R. mangle. Quant à la biomasse racinaire sèche, le pic est noté chez R. racemosa/harisonnii. Dans les strates de hauteur moyenne, la biomasse sèche des tiges et autres parties est en général plus élevée que celle des racines. Dans les strates hautes, ces rapports de biomasse sont inversés. L’analyse de corrélation entre la biomasse racinaire et les facteurs étudiés montre que l’augmentation de celleci est plus liée à la hauteur de submersion qu’au type de sol. Cette augmentation serait le résultat d’une adaptation morphologique des palétuviers aux vasières meubles et à leur  submersion.Mots clés : Biomasse sèche, strates, milieu, racinaire, tiges, autres parties

Production de litière de la mangrove du Parc National du Delta du Saloum (Sénégal)

Le delta du Saloum est un estuaire poissonneux du Sénégal. Les palétuviers y jouent le rôle de nurserie et de frayère à cause essentiellement de leur production de litière qui est la base de la chaîne alimentaire dans l’écosystème mangrove. Afin de monter l’importance de la litière qui tombe dans le milieu, des trappes ont été installées dans deux sites pour le captage du matériel végétal qui chute. Les productions moyennes les plus élevées sont de l’ordre de 4,6 g/m²/J pour les feuilles et de 4,09 g/m²/J pour les fleurs chez R. racemosa/harisonnii. Elles sont d’environ 4,07 g/m²/J pour les feuilles et de 0,194 pour les fleurs chez R. mangle. Ces statistiques montrent que dans l’année, les quantités de feuilles qui chutent des palétuviers varient dans le même ordre de grandeur chez le genre Rhizophora. Par contre, les corrélations notées, entre la production de litière florale et la composition floristique des peuplements, montrent que R. mangle perd moins de fleurs par avortement que R. racemosa/harisonnii. Cette dernière contribuerait donc plus à l’enrichissement du milieu que les autres palétuviers.Most clés : palétuviers, production, litière, Rhizophora, feuilles, fleur

Les cultures vivrières associées aux arbustes natifs : un modèle adapté au climat sahélien

Basé sur des cas d'étude au Sénégal, ce chapitre dresse le bilan de 15 années de recherches sur le fonctionnement des sols d'agrosystèmes associant plantes cultivées (milarachide) et arbustes natifs au Sahel. Les travaux, publiés pour la plupart, ont montré que Guiera senegalensis et Piliostigma reticulatum redistribuent l'eau dans le sol, stimulent les microorganismes du sol et génèrent des îlots de fertilité au bénéfice de la culture associée. Ainsi, les rendements des cultures sont augmentés, y compris en absence de fertilisants : jusqu'à +137 % pour le mil en présence de P. reticulatum à Nioro-du-Rip. Cela justifie l'intérêt de maintenir ces arbustes dans les champs en appliquant une gestion agroécologique

Case study of Daga-Birame CSV for CCAFS ISP11/6.1.2 – Senegal

Senegal, with 196,712 km2 land area, is located at the extreme west of the African continent (Longitudes 11°21W - 17°32N and Latitudes 12°8N - 16°41N). The country’s soils are in general of low fertility, fragile and very susceptible to wind and water erosion. The climate is of Sudano-Sahelian type characterized by alternating dry season (November to May) and rainy season (June to October). The 700 km coastline brings climatic differences between coastal areas and inland zones. Rainfall amount follows a latitudinal variation going from 300 mm in the north semi-desertic areas to 1200 mm in the south. Senegal is divided into 7 agro-ecological zones for management perspectives: River Valley, Niayes, Groundnut Basin (North and South), Silvo-Pastoral zone, Eastern Senegal and Upper Casamance, Lower Casamance (CIAT-BFS/USAID, 2016). The country’s economy is mainly driven by crop and livestock production contributing 17% of the GDP and employing about 70% of the population (NAPA, Republic of Senegal 2006). Like other sub-Saharan African countries, Senegal faces food insecurity as a consequence of climate variability and change combined with other global changes (Zougmoré et al., 2015)

UAV method based on multispectral imaging for field phenotyping

In many countries, particularly in West Africa, there is a strong social demand for increased cereal production. Responding to this demand involves the improvement of cereal varieties. Modern varietal breeding programs in the sub-region need to establish the relationship between plant genotype and phenotype to select high-yielding stress-tolerant plants and to enhance agricultural production. However, in most cases, accurate phenotyping of large mapping populations is a limiting factor. The Regional Study Centre for the Improvement of Drought Adaptation (CERAAS) has developed a robust drone-based data collection and spatial modelling process to better measure cereal crops' traits for the benefit of plant breeding programs. Herein, we report an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) driven crop characteristics analysis throughout the crop cycle. We present a fully automatic pipeline based on a multispectral imaging system for the indirect measurement of agronomic and phenological characters of crops in agricultural field trials. The pipeline is made up of different stages including image acquisition, georeferencing, generation of orthoimages, creation of masks to delimit individual plots, and calculation of proxies. The incorporation of the UAV into agricultural field experiments has the potential to fast-track the genetic improvement of adaptation to drought