Ousmane Sawané’s scientific contributions

A study was conducted to determine the effect of climate gradient and previous crop on weed flora structure in pearl millet crop. Thus, floristic surveys were carried out during 2016 and 2017 crop years on station in Sahelian, Sudano-sahelian and Sudanian zones of Senegal. The results revealed that flora consisted of 81 species distributed in 59 genera and 19 families. Higher number of species were recorded in Sudanian zone (Kolda and Séfa) with respectively 61 and 45 species and the lowest number of species were found at Vélingara in Sudano-sahelian zone (28 species) and Sinthiou Malème in sahelian zone (28 species). According to previously crop, the higher number of species was registered in previous fallow (64 species) followed by previous pearl millet (57 species). In previous mucuna and peanut, flora is 14 percent lower than species recorded in previous fallow. Spectrum analysis indicated that the flora is largely dominated by therophytes, which includes 81.5% of the recorded species. It's presence in pearl millet field was higher in Sahelian zone (93%) followed by Sudano-sahelian zone (89%) and Sudanian zone (Kolda and Séfa) with respectively 80 and 84% of recorded species. Domination of therophytes is more accurate in plot with previous fallow (86%) followed by previous millet (82%), previous peanut (81%) and previous mucuna (79%). Also, it was observed a decreasing of perennial species from Sudanian to Sahelian zone.

Introduction. Since its arrival in Senegal in 2004, Bactrocera invadens (Diptera Tephritidae) synonymized with Bactrocera dorsalis has caused much economic damage in mango crops. Effective and efficient control activities against B. invadens were necessary in order to continue mango production, and biological control measures were envisaged. In such conditions, the government of Senegal allowed the Asian parasitoid Fopius arisanus to be released in some orchards around Ziguinchor. Materials and methods. The dynamics of fruit fly species was studied with lure traps (methyl eugenol and terpinyl acetate with Dichlorvos). Mango fruit were sampled from the control orchard and orchards with released F. arisanus, to compare the differences in tephritid infestation. Results and discussion. The levels of B. invadens populations were 1.6−2.5 times higher in the control than in orchards where F. arisanus was released. The fruit were also 5–6 times more infested in the control orchard than in those that received F. arisanus. Between May and July 2012 the majority of the pupae (92%) collected from fruit samples developed into adult flies, while only 39% of the pupae transformed to adults between October and December after effective action of the parasitoids. In both orchard treatments, the level of native fruit fly populations was about the same. Wild fruit were infested mostly by Ceratitis cosyra, from which were reared native parasitoids such as Fopius caudatus, F. silvestrii, F. desideratus, Diachasmimorpha fullawayi, D. carinata, Psyttalia cosyrae, and P. concolor. In contrast with Mangifera indica, Citrus spp., Anacardium occidentale, Psidium guayava, Saba senegalensis, and Landolphia heudelotii were mainly infested by B. invadens which showed parasitism by F. arisanus. Pteromalidae and Eulophidae were also found from the pest fly pupae. Killer flies (Diptera: Muscidae) such as Coenosia attenuata Stein, C. atra Meigen and C. tigrina Fabricius emerged from the fruit samples. Conclusion. Sanitation against fruit flies in Casamance should take into account the conservation of natural enemies such as parasitoids and predators for an effective biological control of tephritids.