Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) is an under-exploited crop in Burkina Faso, although it can contribute to food self-sufficiency. The major constraint to promoting its cultivation is the unavailability of healthy seeds. Corms are rich in water (75%) and nutrient reserves, making them difficult to store. The use of plant biotechnologies is one of the effective means of overcoming this problem, hence the interest of this study, which focuses on the response of a local variety of taro (Tabouchi) to a phytohormone (6-benzylaminopurine) in in vitro culture. After budding, the resulting buds were disinfected with NaClO at different doses (2.75, 3 and 3.7%). The disinfected explants were subcultured on ½MS medium supplemented with BAP (2; 4 and 6 mg/L). Seven quantitative characteristics were measured during the trial. With regard to disinfection, the 3.7% NaClO dose showed the lowest contamination rate (43.33%). The culture medium containing 6 mg/L BAP induced sprout tip by inhibiting the root system of vitro plants. All the growth parameters measured showed better performance in the control medium, except for the number of shoots (NR). The control medium did not produce any shoots, even though it promoted the development of the in vitro plants’ root system. The medium containing 6 mg/L BAP would be recommended for the production of shoots, while the control medium would be favorable for the regeneration of plants without shoots.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the improvement indices and the agro-morphological diversity of Ceratotheca sesamoides accessions from the Sudan-Sahelian and Sudanian climatic zones of Burkina Faso. For this purpose, a randomized Fisher block design with three replications was set up. Univariate analysis was used to evaluate the level of diversity and the varietal improvement indices. The evaluation of the links between the traits was done by Person’s correlation test. The structuring of the diversity was done by multivariate analyses. The results of this experiment reveal the existence of a high agro-morphological diversity on several traits. This diversity made it possible to divide the accessions collected into four groups. Of these, group I is made up of the best performing accessions. The best performing traits were dry and fresh leaf biomass, plant height and number of primary branches. The genetic parameters recorded that Group I accessions are best suited in a breeding and development program for the creation of varieties that meet the needs of producers. The study assessed the level of diversity, diversity structuring and improvement indices.

This study focuses on four yam cultivars belonging to the Folou or Flado farmer’s group in the Gourounsi and Lobiri national languages grown in Burkina Faso. Its objective is to describe the different yam cultivars belonging to this group. To this end, 27 qualitative variables, including ten (10) for the stems, nine (9) for the leaves, five (5) for the tubers and three (3) for the flowers, were selected to characterize the varietal group. The trial was conducted in a Fisher block design with three replications. The work was conducted during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 rainy seasons in the village of Onliassan, Sissili province. The study revealed that the Folou or Flado varietal group can be attached to the D. alata species and would consist of five (05) cultivars instead of three (03) previously described by farmers.