Striga hermonthica, causes up to 100% yield loss in maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa. Developing Striga-resistant maize cultivars could be a major component of integrated Striga management strategies. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of maize breeding activities related to Striga resistance and its management.Scientific surveys have revealed that conventional breeding strategies have been used more than molecular breeding strategies in maize improvement for Striga resistance. Striga resistance genes are still under study in the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) maize breeding programme. There is also a need to discover QTL and molecular markers associated with such genes to improve Striga resistance in maize. Marker Assistance Breeding is expected to increase maize breeding efficiency with complex traits such as resistance towards Striga because of the complex nature of the host-parasite relationship and its intersection with other environmental factors. Conventional alongside molecular tools and technical controls are promising methods to effectively assess Striga in Sub-Saharan Africa.

RESUMEL'anacardier (Anacardium occidentale L.) occupe une place importante dans l'économie béninoise. La filière est confrontée cependant à un certain nombre de difficultés, notamment la méconnaissance des caractéristiques des différentes variétés par les planteurs. Cette étude est donc une contribution à la caractérisation des anacardiers présents dans la commune de Parakou, au Nord-Benin. Dans ce cadre, 30 accessions ont été choisies en fonction de la couleur de leur pomme dans une plantation contenant la plupart des variétés d'anacardier que l'on peut rencontrer dans la commune. Sur chaque accession, 10 fruits frais, non parasités et de maturité totale ont été récoltés de manière aléatoire. Les caractéristiques physiques (longueur, grande et petite circonférence de la pomme, poids de la pomme, poids et longueur de la noix, et poids du fruit) ont été évaluées. Il ressort que les caractéristiques du fruit varient en fonction de la couleur de la pomme. La catégorisation a permis de distinguer trois groupes de fruits qui se différencient de par le poids du fruit complet (pomme avec noix) et de la longueur de la pomme. Le groupe constitué majoritairement de fruits portant des pommes jaune pâle et de fruits portant des pommes rouge présente les meilleures caractéristiques. La longueur, la grande circonférence, la petite circonférence et le poids de la pomme, la longueur et le poids de la noix sont estimés respectivement à 7,79 cm, 16,35 cm, 13,85 cm, 91,32 g, 3,82 cm et 7,67 g. La connaissance de ces traits supérieurs est fondamentale pour tout programme d'amélioration des arbres. © 2016 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved. Mots clés:Anacardier, fruits et noix, caractérisation morphologique, Bénin. Morphological characterization of a collection of cashew fruits from the municipality of Parakou district (Benin)ABSTRACT Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) occupies more and more an important part of Benin's economy. However, the sector faces a number of challenges, including lack of knowledge of varieties by farmers. This study aims at characterizing some cashew fruits from the municipality of Parakou. Therefore, 30 accessions were selected based on the color of their apple in anorchard containing all varieties of cashew that may be N. ZOUMAROU WALLIS et al. / Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. 10(6): 2413-2422, 2016 2414 encountered in the district. In each accession, 10 fresh, uninfected and total maturity fruits were collected randomly. The physical characteristics (length, large and small circumference of the apple, apple weight, weight and length of nuts and fruit weight) were evaluated. It appears that fruit characteristics vary with apple color. Their categorization allowed distinguishing three groups of fruits that differ by the weight and the length of the apple and the weight of the nuts. The group composed mostly of fruits with pale yellow apples and red apples presented the best characteristics. In this group the length of the apple, the wide circumference and the small circumference of the apple, the w...

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Striga hermonthica, causes up to 100% yield loss in maize production in sub-Saharan Africa. Developing Striga resistant maize cultivars could be a major component of integrated Striga management strategies. This study aims at assessing the agronomic performance of S1 breeding lines in improving maize for Striga resistance. Two hundred S1 lines have been evaluated under artificial infestation Striga and Striga-free conditions in Benin for two years during 2018 and 2019 growing seasons using alpha-lattice design (51 x 4) with two replicates. Twelve agro-morphological and Striga adaptive traits have been assessed. The tested lines have displayed high genetic variability for most agronomic and Striga adaptive traits. The S1 lines exhibited high grain yield than their parents with averages of 2,552.72±593 kg ha-1 and 2,965.67±635.86 kg ha-1 under Striga artificial infestation and Striga-free conditions, respectively. Grain yield has displayed high positive and significant genetic and phenotypic correlations with ears per plant and high negative correlations with days to 50% silking, ears aspect, and Striga damage rating at 8 and 10 weeks after planting (WAP). Useful traits like ears per plant, days to 50% silking, ears aspect, number of emerged Striga plants and Striga rating at 10 WAP could assist for indirect selection under Striga conditions. Based on the selection index, a total of 15 S1 lines have been identified as top ranking and can be used as sources of resistance or tolerance genes to Striga and further improvement in maize breeding in future.

Description of subject:Cashew fruits are still exported mainly according to their size and color, but neither of these two characteristics takes into account the nutritional potential of the almond and the cashew apple. Objective:The present research aims to assess the effect of cropping systems on the nutritional values of apple and cashew kernel. MaterialsandMethods:The physico-chemical analyzes were performed in the laboratories and the data were processed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and SPSS v16.0 software. Frequency calculations and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were determined. Results: A significant variation (p <0.05) of the nutritive phosphorus (16.95 ± 0.21) was obtained in apples in the cropping system (cashewsoybean) against (7.6 ± 0.57) in the pure cashew culture (absolute control) and in cashew kernel (10.25 ± 0.07) in a culture system (cashew-soybean) against (10.15 ± 0.072) in a pure cashew culture system. Variations in taste and odor were observed in the cashewsoybean cropping system. In addition, the cashew-soybean cropping system induced the lowest tannin contents in cashew apples (0.261 ± 0.14) compared to the cashew-cotton cropping system (0.268 ± 0.071). Conclusion The cashew-soybean cropping system deserves to be encouraged in the context of optimizing cashew yields, exporting nutrients and reducing tannin in almond and cashew apple in Benin.