Cowpea is essential in the diet in Burkina Faso. The information on their physical properties and cooking quality is important for consumer acceptance. This study has therefore been undertaken in order to fill the gap. Thus, six cowpea varieties were evaluated for their physical and cooking properties. The seeds had between 9% to 12% moisture. For physical proprieties, the result revealed that the variety Makoyin had the highest seed length (9.65 mm), the variety Gourgou recorded the highest seed width (7.08 mm), seed thickness (5.13 mm), and seed area (153.29 mm 2 ), and 100-seeds weight (21.1 g). The lowest seed sizes were presented by the variety Teeksongo with values of 7.88 mm, 6.34 mm, 4.88 mm, 122.68 mm 2 , and 16.87 g for respectively the length, the width, the thickness, the area, and the 100-seeds weight. The variety Makoyin produces seed elliptical form and varieties Neerwaya, Gourgou, Yipoussi and Issa-sosso, and Teek-songo the seeds spherical form. For cooking proprieties, the highest value of the bulk density of the seeds was presented in the variety Teek-song (1.51 g/ml). The highest hydration and swelling capacity were observed in varieties Gourgou (0.22 g/seed and 0.24 ml/seed respectively) and Yipoussi (0.22 g/seed and 0.21 ml/seed respectively). The seed with large size, greater hydration, and swelling capacity is preferred by consumers and processors for food products. Varieties Makoyin, Neerwaya, Gourgou, Yipoussi, and Issa-sosso presented cooking time of unsoaked seeds equal to one hour (from 60 to 68 min) excepted Teek-songo which had 46 min. These cooking times are acceptable for consumers. Seed length, surface area, thickness, the weight of seeds, hydration capacity, and

Sweet grain sorghum is a very important cereal for urban and especially rural communities in Burkina Faso. It is mainly grown by traditional farmers. Consumed fresh in a pasty state, the grains have a huge nutritional potential and could improve the quality of the consumers' diet. In addition, the marketing of panicles harvested at the doughy grain stage offers substantial income benefits to farmers and traders. The straw of this sorghum is also an excellent fodder for the integration of agriculture with breeding. Despite the many advantages of this crop, it has long remained under-exploited due to insufficient knowledge of its potential and little research attention. However, the conservation and improvement of the quality of sweet grain sorghum is an important issue for the various stakeholders in the crop chain. Thus, based on the various research studies conducted on the crop since 2008 in Burkina Faso, this literature review highlights the importance of sweet grain sorghum, its role in crop diversification, its nutritional properties, as well as the future possibilities for selection and genetic improvement of this species.

Sweet grain sorghum is an under-exploited crop mainly grown around dwelling houses. Its production faces harsh environmental conditions. This study aims to assess sowing date effect on morpho-agronomical traits of sweet grain sorghum. Thus, 30 genotypes of sweet grain sorghum were assessed under 2 planting dates (June 26 and July 20) 24 days apart in a Randomized Complete Block Designs with 3 replications using 10 traits. The results showed a significant effect of sowing date on most of the traits, except internode length. All genotypes were sensitive to photoperiod variation by reducing their sowing-flowering cycle from 08 to 20 days, size and yield at the second planting date. Delayed sowing also resulted in a decrease in plant height (66.4 cm), 100 grain weight (8.3%), panicle weight (16.84%) and grain yield per plant (18.93%). The genotypes expressed a differential sensitivity to photoperiod variation with a mean coefficient of 0.59. Finally, a clustered flowering of all genotypes between September 11 and 27 was observed for both sowing dates. These results could be exploited by sweet sorghum breeding programme in the definition of the cropping calendar.