Antioxidant compounds of dietary plants have been widely studied because of their bioactive properties. The objective of this research study was to analyse the health enhancing attributes of 31 cowpeas varieties from Burkina Faso. Significant variations were observed in the phenolic content as well as the antioxidant and anti-lipid peroxidation activities amongst the cowpea varieties. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that the ferric reducing ability (r = 0.954) and anti-lipid peroxidation (r = 0.616) were positively correlated with the total phenolic content. A significant relationship between cowpea ferric reducing ability and anti-lipid peroxidation (r = 0.64) was also revealed. However, nitric oxide scavenging potential was found not to be related to its total phenolic and total flavonoid content. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and hydroxyl radicals scavenging potentials were not correlated with the total flavonoid content. The pigmented seeds of cowpea varieties possess higher total phenolic, total flavonoid content, ferric reduction ability, and anti-lipid peroxidation activities than the colourless ones. The results obtained from this study suggest that Burkina Faso cowpea cultivars are rich in phenolic compounds and have significant antioxidant and anti-lipid peroxidation activities. Consumption of the cowpea, particularly of coloured cowpea seed varieties, should be beneficial for chronic human diseases prevention.

Organic and inorganic fertilizers improve the nutritional quality of crop. An experiment in pots of four treatments was conducted in a randomized complete block design in order to evaluate the effect of the application of organic and NPK fertilizers on the biochemical components and antioxidant activities of five cowpea genotypes. Results showed that organic fertilizer and the mixture of organic and NPK fertilizer have significantly (p < 0.05) increased the growth parameters and leaves quality traits of cowpea. The response of cowpea under the different treatment is also function of genotype type. The PCA and the dendrogram performed basis on the different fertilizers effect on growth parameters and leaves quality trait divided the treatments into three main classes. Class I comprising NPK + Jatropha treatment strongly contributed to lycopene, β-carotene and total chlorophyll contents, height and number of branches. Class II comprising NPK treatment solely and Jatropha treatment solely are highly linked to the variables FRAP, DPPH and protein content. Class III comprising control treatment strongly contributed to salicylic, soluble sugar, phenolics and flavonoids contents, and trypsin inhibition activity. The Jatropha cake could be used solely or in mixture with NPK to improve growth and the quality traits of cowpea leaves.

Many pathogenic bacteria produce virulence factors controlled by a mechanism of regulation named quorum sensing (QS). Inhibition of bacterial QS system is a more recent therapeutic approach to counterbalance the emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria. This study aimed to assess the abilities of methanol extract from Guiera senegalensis galls and its isolated compound methyl gallate to quench the quorum sensing system. Methanol extract from galls of G. senegalensis at the concentration of 100 µg/ml demonstrated significant inhibitory effect on pyocyanin and violacein production respectively in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and Chromobacterium violaceum CV026. Colum chromatography and recycling High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) of methanol extract from galls of G. senegalensis led to the isolation of one active quorum quenching compound. Different spectroscopic methods (MS and NMR) were used to elucidate the structure of this isolated compound as being the methyl gallate (MG). Methyl gallate at the final concentration of 12.5 µg/ml demonstrated good anti-QS activity by inhibiting violacein and pyocyanin production. Its low molecular weight and the capacity to interfere with the mechanism of QS make methyl gallate, an interesting candidate for development of drugs as an alternative to antibiotics to combat bacterial resistance. Key words: Guiera senegalensis, methyl gallate, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, quorum sensing.

Soybean is one of the promising food crops and feeds which contributes significantly to the development of agriculture in Burkina Faso. However, very few improved soybean varieties have been developed in the country. The introduction of new genotypes with high agronomic potential and adapted to the climatic conditions of the Sudanian zone of Burkina Faso will boost soybean production in the region. Twenty-four (24) newly introduced soybean genotypes were evaluated for their agromorphological and adaptation characteristics in the Sudanian zone of Burkina Faso. The variability parameters such as genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation, broad sense heritability, and expected genetic advance were estimated for 14 agromorphological characters. The experimental design used in this study was an alpha lattice with 3 replications. Planting was done following a spacing of 50 cm (inter-row) × 5 cm (within row). Analysis of variance revealed significant difference ( ; ) for all characters studied except the nodule diameter, nodule score, and grain yield. The values of the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters indicating the influence of environmental factors. The highest GCV and PVC values were found in the number of nodules (70.07% and 77.26%), number of seeds per plant (41.34% and 44.18%), and number of pods per plant (29.27% and 33.50%), respectively. High estimates of heritability coupled with high genetic advance expressed as a percentage of mean were observed for 10 of the 14 traits, suggesting an important expected genetic gain allowing more success in selection.