Uses and preferences of woody species in two protected forests of Dan Kada Dodo and Dan Gado in Niger

An ethnobotanical survey was carried out on 31 woody species recorded in the protected forests of Dan Kada Dodo and Dan Gado in south-central Niger. Semi-structured interviews with local population were conducted between June and September 2012 in seven bordering villages in which five are predominantly from the Hausa ethnic group and two are from the Fulani ethnic group. A total of 256 people were randomly selected and interviewed. Plant parts and species use-value and preferences were evaluated. Local populations were found to use forest resources for varied and vital needs. The use category wood energy was dominant (20.38%), followed by medicinal uses (19.42%). Wood leaves and roots were the most used parts of the plants. There is significant difference (P<0.01) in use importance between different tree components by the local population. Balanites aegyptiaca (Del), Hyphaene thebaica (L.) Mart., Tamarindus indica (L.), Ziziphus mauritiana (Lam), Sclerocarya birrea (A. Rich) Hochst and Guiera senegalensis (J. F. Gmelin) had high ethnobotanical use-values and were the most preferred by local communities. These important species should be considered for long-term biodiversity conservation and management programmes. (Résumé d'auteur

Diospyro-Kyayetlia Senegalensis ord. nov. in the regional "Parc W" of river Niger

Les végétations arbustives des voisinages des cours d’eau ont été étudiées à partir de 34 relevés phytosociologiques réalisés entre septembre 2001 et décembre 2003, en utilisant la méthode phytosociologique de Braun Blanquet. Deux associations végétales en sont décrites: Feretio-Khayetum senegalensis et Celtido-Diospyroetum mespiliformis. Une alliance nouvelle et un ordre nouveau sont créés pour les regrouper. Il s’agit du Feretio-Khayion senegalensis et du Diospyro-Khayetalia senegalensis. Cet ordre rassemble les groupements vallicoles de la zone de transition soudano sahélienne et est considéré comme vicariante géographique du Pterygotetalia Lebrun et Gilbert 1954. Aussi, le Diospyro-Khayion senegalensis all. nov est consirédéré comme vicariante géographique du Khayo-Pterygotion Schmitz 1950 et du Psychotrio-Tecleion Schmitz 1971. Mots clés: Diospyro-Khayetalia senegalensis, Diospyro-Khayion senegalensis, Parc Régional du W du fleuve NigerThe shrubby vegetation close to water bodies was documented and analysed by 34 phytosciological observations, beginning September 2001 to December 2003; the Braun Blanquet phytoecological method was used. Two vegetative associations were depicted: Feretio-Khayetum senegalensis and Celtido-Diospyroetum mespiliformis. To regroup them, a new alliance and a new order were created. They consisted of Feretio-Khayion senegalensis and Diospyro-Kyayetalia senegalensis. This order assembled the in valley groupings of the transitional sudano sahelian zone and was considered as a geographic variance of Pterygotetalia Lebrun and Gilbert 1954. As well as the Diospyro-Khayion senegalensis all. nova was considered as a geographic variance of Khayo-Pterygotion Schmitz 1950 and of Psychotrio-Tecleion Schmitz 1971. Key words: Diospyro-Khayetalia senegalensis, Diospyro-Khayion senegalensis, W Regional Park of Niger Rive

Les grands axes stratégiques du Projet Energie II. Volet offre pour une gestion rationnelle des écosystèmes forestiers péri-urbains au Niger

L'approvisionnement en bois-énergie des quatre grandes villes du Niger (Niamey, Maradi, Zinder, Taboua) est depuis une vingtaine d'années un secteur économique en développement qui se traduit notamment par des emplois en milieu rural (bûcherons et transporteurs) et un chiffre d'affaires annuel global de 2 à 3 milliards de francs CFA pour la seule ville de Niamey. Cette activité économique, jusqu'à aujourd'hui basée sur une ressource gratuite, entraîne une exploitation anarchique croissante, menaçant le potentiel de production. Aussi, depuis 1989, le Projet Energie II -Volte Offre travaille, sur mandat du gouvernement du Niger, à l'élaboration d'un cadre global permettant de garantir un approvisionnement à la fois durable, régulier, performant, et au meilleur coût, tout en assurant une gestion conservatoire et rationnelle des ressources ligneuses. Ce cadre global intitulé, Stratégie Energie Domestique s'appuie concrètement sur le tripyque : fiscalité, contrôle forestier, marchés ruraux auquel 'ajoute le schéma directeur d'approvisionnement, outil de planification des ressources forestières. Les marchés ruraux sont l'outil qui permet de transférer aux populations la responsabilité de la gestion de ces formations forestières. Ils ont été officiellement créés par l'ordonnance 92-037 du 21 août 1992 (article 8), outil structurel légal réglementaire et fiscal qui organise le commerce du bois en fixant les règles du jeu entre les différents acteurs. Le contrôle forestier a pour objet de garantir aux marchés ruraux que les zones d'exploitation leur sont bien réservées. Ce dispositif global, développé concrètement sur le terrain depuis 1991, est maintenant opérationnel : 10 à 15% du bois consommé à Niamey provient de structures de production organisées en marchés ruraux. (Résumé d'auteur

Integrated water and soil conservation for food security in Niger, preliminary results

As a result of growing population pressure and limited fertile land availability, Nigerien farmers increasingly rely on marginal lands for food crops production. These degraded lands, however, generally provide poor millet yields due to their low soil nutrient content and imbalanced partitioning of water in the root-zone. This study evaluates the agronomical, hydrological and soil quality parameters of water and soil conservation techniques (i.e. zaï, demi-lunes and no-till with scarification) which tackle these two major crop growth limitations by means of an in situ root-zone water balance experiment. Preliminary results from the first cropping season from June to October 2011 show overall low yields. The 2011 season was characterised by erratic rainfall with a severe dry spell during flowering stage. The control and manure treatment did not yield grain, but simply applying manure did increase dry matter production with a factor of 20. The highest grain yield was produced by the zaï, 134 kg/ha, which was 3 and 9 times better than respectively the grain yield of demi-lunes and no-till with scarification treatments. The zaï treatment moreover reduced cumulative actual evaporation as measured using mini-lysimeters during a 10 day drying cycle. In conclusion, until now the synergistic effect of the water-harvesting practices and the supply of manure show promising potential to rehabilitate and to increase the agronomic efficiency of marginal land in Niger. Future work will focus on the impact of the treatments on yield, soil quality properties and on the root-zone water balance

Distance and Visibility: Two Systems in Hausa Deixis

The current standard account of Hausa deixis claims that Hausa has a linear person-based system with the following four locative adverbs and their interpretations: nân 'here', nan 'there near you', cân 'there away from you and me', and can 'over there away from you and me'. This paper shows that in fact one may need two separate deictic systems for Hausa to account for all relevant data. The first system is based on distance with a primary proximal vs. distal contrast. The distance system however also embeds a person subsystem, with one adverb in particular referring to the hearer (second person) position. The second deictic system in Hausa is based on visibility, with a primary contrast between an area comfortably visible and an area visible only with some difficulties. Indeed, in the visibility system, five adverbs range the entire visible area in front of the speaker, from the foreground up to the extreme visible area at the horizon

Population structure and genetic diversity in Acacia senegal complex of species as revealed by SSR markers

Acacia senegal is a multipurpose African tree mainly exploited for gum Arabic production. It also played a capital role in soil fertilization and as fodder for animals. Despite its wide distribution in Africa and its economic and ecological importance, no studies about population structure and genetic diversity using highly polymorphic and co-dominant markers, such as microsatellites have yet been performed for this species. In this study, we investigate the pattern of A. senegal genetic diversity in its African distribution range using 469 samples from 12 populations and 6 countries. Microsatellite markers that we developed especially for this species are used. The first results show that different specific alleles are fixed in some populations. This led to a high genetic structure and confirms that A. senegal is a complex of several sub-species. When population samples with common alleles are only considered the genetic structure becomes low with Fst = 0.09, indicating gene flow among these populations. Genetic structure investigated using Bayesian model displays 6 clusters and presence of migrants among them. Allelic richness ranges from 3.16 to 5.17 with an average value of 5.03. Expected heterozygosity (He) ranges from 0.41 to 0.56 with 0.47 of average. These results show the ability of microsatellites markers developed and used in this study, to distinguish sub-species in the A. senegal complex and, to detect genetic structure and diversity within sub-species. (Texte intégral

Analyses chimiques des eaux du fleuve Niger à Niamey : premiers résultats d'une campagne annuelle de mesures

Nous avons déterminé, d'août 1984 à février 1986, les concentrations des silicates, chlorures, nitrites, phosphates, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnésium, ammonium et fer ferrique ainsi que le pH, la conductivité, la turbidité, l'oxygène dissous, l'alcalinité et la D.B.O. dans l'eau du fleuve Niger à hauteur de la ville de Niamey. L'exploitation statistique de ces résultats fait apparaître l'existence de deux périodes stables et d'une période instable au cours de l'année. (Résumé d'auteur

Effect of Mass Supplementation with Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food during an anticipated nutritional emergency

Previous studies have shown the benefits of ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF) distribution in reducing the incidence and prevalence of severe acute malnutrition

Germination et croissance initiale de Neocarya macrophylla (Sabine) Prance, une espèce oléagineuse du Niger

Germination and Initial Growth of Neocarya macrophylla (Sabine) Prance, a oleaginous Species of Niger. The study conducted in parallel in the real environment, nursery and laboratory to better understand the characteristics of germination and seedling development Neocarya macrophylla, a species of oleaginous Niger. The treatments applied to seed have a waiting time shorter than the untreated seeds. The control has a staggered germination (30 days) and shelling of nuts influenced seed germination bundled (16 days). Unprocessed nuts are the best germination rate (89.53%). Soaking nuts during 72 h and 120 h is fatal for germination. The shelf life has significant effects on the germination of walnuts and almonds. The observation shows a germinating seed cryptogeal. The low germination rates nuts without water shows that water is a limiting factor to the spread of this tree species. The seedlings are very sensitive to dampingoff and tolerant enough to transplantation with a survival rate of 79%