Objective: The present study aimed at carrying out the morpho-biometric characterization of indigenous guinea fowl populations.Materials and Methods: Data collection was conducted between March and July 2018 in two agroecological zones in northern Togo.The study was carried out on 738 adult guinea fowl. Each animal was described by direct observation. Body weight and measurements were recorded. Results: The results revealed twelve colours of the plumage with a dominance of Bonaparte (39.0%) and Pearl grey (27.1%) colours and a rarity of Cinnamon pied (0.7%), Isabelle (0.3%) and Coral blue (0.1%) colours. The plumage was mostly smooth (90.5%). The eyes were mostly brown (57.0%) but Albino guinea fowl predominantly had white colour (85.2%) for the eye. Regardless of the phenotype, the helmet was curved (73.2%) and mumps white-bluish colour (85.5%). In Atakora, the beak was brown (81.3%), the wattles were redwhite (49.8%), the shanks were black-red (32.6%) and the toes were red (47.6% ) while in the Dry Savannah the beak was red (52.9%), the wattles were red-bluish (38.4%), the shanks were black-orange (12.3%) and the toes were grey (35.2%). For the beak length, drumstick length, body length and body weight, the Dry Savannah guinea fowl showed significantly (p<0.05) higher values than those of Atakora guinea fowl. Moreover, guinea fowl with Pearl grey phenotype (1.36±0.28 kg) were heavier (p<0.05) than the other phenotypes. Conclusion: Positive relationship could not be established between phenotype and biometric characteristics in this study. Further studies are required using molecular and zootechnical information to establish relationship between different phenotypes.

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Description of the Fish community of the Sahelian Lake Higa, a Ramsar site of Burkina Faso, West Africa ABSTRACT Objective: The work aims to characterize the fish community of Lake Higa, a Ramsar site in Burkina Faso and to identify extinct species with help of the fishermen experiences. Methodology and results : In May 2012, we sampled fish with cast nets, observed commercial fish landings and held a workshop with the local fishermen. We listed nine families dominated by the Cichlidae (86%) and eighteen species dominated by Oreochromis niloticus (56 %) and Sarotherodon galilaeus (23 %). Three species of Cichlidae had the highest factor condition K: Sarotherodon galilaeus (K = 1.94), Oreochromis niloticus (K = 1.88) and Tilapia zillii (K = 1.80). The fishermen unanimously declared Lates niloticus and Heterotis niloticus to have disappeared from the lake. 8959Conclusions and application of findings: The aquatic ecosystem Higa shows signs of degradation. Ongoing conservation programs need to be continued and improved to ensure better protection and sustainable use of aquatic resources. The environmental awareness of the fishermen suggests that they can be empowered in this task.