Caractérisation des systèmes de production à base de riz pluvial strict dans les exploitations agricoles de la zone Sud-soudanienne du Burkina Faso

Au Burkina Faso, le riz occupe la 4ème place des céréales tant du point de vue des superficies, de la production que de la consommation annuelle par habitant.  Cependant, la production nationale est faible et ne couvre que 47% des besoins des populations. Au Burkina trois, types de rizicultures se côtoient ; la riziculture pluviale ; la riziculture de bas-fond et la riziculture irriguée. La riziculture pluviale  offre un fort potentiel mais est mal maîtrisée avec de faibles rendements. Cette étude a été conduite sous forme d’enquête auprès de 157 producteurs afin  d’identifier les potentiels et les contraintes de la riziculture pluviale dans la zone  Ouest du Burkina. Les résultats montrent une récente introduction de la riziculture pluviale dans la zone. La superficie individuelle moyenne est de 0,81 ha. Les  rendements moyens sont d’environ 1075 kg/ha. Les quantités d’engrais par hectare sont faibles et sont en moyenne de 44,5 kg pour l’azote, 25,5 kg pour le phosphore et 15,5 kg pour le potassium. Le riz pluvial est cultivé en pure sans rotation régulière. La faible maîtrise de l’itinéraire technique de production nécessite une formation des producteurs pour accroître les rendements et booster la production du riz pluvial.© 2015 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Mots clés : Riz pluvial, rendement, enquêtes, itinéraire technique

Effet des précédents culturaux et de différents niveaux d’azote sur la productivité du riz pluvial strict sur sols ferrugineux tropicaux de la zone sudsoudanienne du Burkina Faso

L’azote constitue un élément essentiel dans la nutrition minérale du riz. Au Burkina Faso, le riz pluvial entre de plus en plus dans les assolements. Cependant, le  rendement du riz pluvial reste largement en deçà du potentiel des variétés. Afin de contribuer à une meilleure connaissance de la nutrition minérale du riz pluvial, un dispositif expérimental en split plot a été mis en place en station de recherche de Farako-Bâ en 2013 et 2014 pour évaluer l’effet des rotations et de la fertilisation azotée sur le rendement. Les résultats montrent que les meilleurs précédents du riz pluvial sont les légumineuses niébé et arachide. Ces deux précédents permettent un gain de rendements respectivement de 104% et 92% par rapport à la  monoculture du riz. La dose de 90 kg N/ha a permis d’obtenir le rendement paddy le plus élevé soit une augmentation de 395% par rapport à la dose sans apport d’azote 0 kg N/ha et le poids de 1000 grains le plus élevé. Cependant la dose agronomique la plus efficace quel que soit le précédent cultural est de 60 kg N/ha. Les rotations et les doses d’azote ont un effet sur l’augmentation des rendements du riz paddy en culture pluviale.© 2015 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Mots clés: Riz pluvial, rotations, azote, légumineuses, Burkina Faso. Effect of previous crops and different nitrogen levels on the productivity of upland  rice on ferruginous tropical soils of the South Sudan region of  Burkina FasoNitrogen is an essential element in the mineral nutrition of rice. In Burkina Faso, more and more, upland rice enters in the crop rotation. However, the yield of upland rice remains under the potential of varieties. To contribute to a better understanding of the mineral nutrition of upland rice, an experimental split plot was tested in Farako-Bâ research station in 2013 and 2014. This was to evaluate the effect of crop rotations and the effect of nitrogen fertilization on yield of upland rice. The results show that the best previous crops of upland rice are legumes, cowpea and peanut. Both previous crops allow a gain of respectively 104% and 92% of yields compared to rice monoculture. The dose of 90 kg N/ha permitted to have highest paddy yield and an increase of 395% compared to the dose without nitrogen 0 kg N/ha and the highest weight of 1000 grains. However, the most effective agronomic dose regardless of the previous crop is obtained with the dose of 60 kg N/ha. Crops rotation and nitrogen level have an effect on upland rice yield.© 2015 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Keywords: Upland rice, rotations, nitrogen, legumes, Burkina Faso

Feed the Future Mali: Scaling up technological and institutional livestock innovations

United States Agency for International Developmen

Risk factors associated with HIV prevalence in pregnant women in Burkina Faso, from 2006 to 2014

Purpose of the study: To determine the socio-demographic factors influencing the dynamics of HIV prevalence among pregnant women in Burkina Faso.Material and methods: A total of 66,597 pregnant women from the 13 health regions of Burkina Faso were included in this study conducted between 2006 and 2014. Venous blood samples were collected and analyzed for the detection of HIV antibodies according to WHO / UNAIDS strategy II, using the mixed test Vironostika HIV Uniform II Plus O (Bio-Mérieux) and the test discriminating ImmunoCombII HIV-1 & 2 BiSpot (Orgenics). Samples with discordant results between the two tests, as well as those positive to HIV-2 or HIV-1 + 2, were retested with HIV BLOT 2.2 (MP Diagnostics). Sociodemographic data collected from the participants were correlated with their HIV status to determine key risk factors influencing HIV infection prevalence in Burkina Faso.Results: Sociodemographic data showed that the study population consisted mainly of married women (91.2%) at their first pregnancy (27.1%) with a large majority of them being housewives (86.2%) who did not attend any form of schooling (69.4%). About 88.4% had stayed longer than a year in the health region where they initially participated in the study and 55.8% were between 20 and 29 years of age. Overall HIV prevalence significantly dropped from 2.7 % in 2006 to 1.3% in 2014. However HIV seroprevalence in this study has varied significantly according to socio-demographic characteristics including marital status, parity, occupation, education, age group and the length of stay in the women's health community (p <0.0001). Factors sustaining HIV transmission included the status of being unmarried (OR=1.67 [1.42-1.97]), primigest (OR=1.64 [1.41-1.89]), having other occupations except being student (OR = 1.68 [1.20-2.33]), aged between 20-49 years (OR=3.14 [2.51-3.93]) and the duration of stay less than a year in their locality (OR=5.33 [4.61-10.16]) and these factors were identified as main risk factors associated with HIV prevalence.Conclusion: Burkina Faso remains among the countries with concentrated epidemics despite a significant reduction in the prevalence observed in this study. The inclusion of identified risk factors in the national HIV program could improve the quality of the response to the epidemic.Keywords: HIV-Pregnant Women-Risk Factors-Burkina Fas

Sorghum grain as human food in Africa: relevance of content of starch and amylase activities

Sorghum is a staple food grain in many semi-arid and tropic areas of the world, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa because of its good adaptation to hard environments and its good yield of production. Among important biochemical components for sorghum processing are levels of starch (amylose and amylopectin) and starch depolymerizing enzymes. Current research focus on identifying varieties meeting specific agricultural and food requirements from the great biodiversity of sorghums to insure food security. Results show that some sorghums are rich sources of micronutrients (minerals and vitamins) and macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fat). Sorghum has a resistant starch, which makes it interesting for obese and diabetic people. In addition, sorghum may be an alternative food for people who are allergic to gluten. Malts of some sorghum varieties display a-amylase and ß-amylase activities comparable to those of barley, making them useful for various agro-industrial foods. The feature of sorghum as a food in developing as well as in developed countries is discussed. A particular emphasis is made on the impact of starch and starch degrading enzymes in the use of sorghum for some African foods, e.g. “tô”, thin porridges for infants, granulated foods “couscous”, local beer “dolo”, as well agro-industrial foods such as lager beer and bread.Keywords: sorghum, a-amylase, b-amylase, starch, infant porridge, beer, couscous, dolo, tô, brea

Allelic and genotypic frequencies of ASIP and MC1R genes in four West African sheep populations

In West Africa, consumers pay a major attention on the coat colour of the sheep due to religious and cultural reasons. White coated individuals reach selling prices up to three-fold higher than black coated sheep. The aim of this study was to ascertain the genotypic and allelic frequencies of MC1R and ASIP genes in order to assess possible implementation of breeding programmes focusing on the increase of the white coated sheep frequencies. A total of 113 individuals belonging to three Burkina Faso sheep breeds (Burkina-Sahel, Djallonké and Mossi) and one Niger sheep breed (Touareg) were genotyped for the MC1R and ASIP genes. The wild allele of the ASIP gene (Awt; 54.30%) was the most frequent in the four West African sheep, particularly in Burkina-Sahel (85%) and Touareg breeds (80%). The dominant black ED allele was not identified in Burkina-Sahel and Touareg. Most of the analysed individuals were homozygous for wild MC1R allele (E+/E+) with 100, 73.5, 59 and 100% frequency in Burkina-Sahel, Djallonké, Mossi and Touareg, respectively. The Awt/Awt was the most frequent genotype on the ASIP gene in the four West African breeds (80.53%). No individuals were homozygous for the deletion (allele Adel). Although, no routine methods for detection of the genetic basis of the recessive black coat colour patterns can be easily implemented, the current results suggest the feasibility of a selection programme aiming at decreasing the frequencies of the dominant black ED allele in Burkina Faso sheep breeds.Key words: Sheep, coat colour, MC1R gene, ASIP gene, Burkina Faso, Niger