Complementarity of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Data for Mapping Agricultural Areas in Senegal

The small size of agricultural plots is the main difficulty for crops mapping with remote sensing data in the Sahelian region of Africa. The study aims to combine Sentinel-1 (radar) and Sentinel-2 (Optic) data to discriminate millet, maize and peanut crops. Training plots were used in order to analyse temporal variation of the three crops’ signals. The NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) was able to differentiate crops only at the end of the rainy season (October). The optical data as well as the radar ones could not easily discriminate the three crops during the growing season, because in that period vegetation cover is low, and soil contribution to the signals (due to roughness and moisture) was more important than that of real vegetation. However, the ratio of VH/VV (VH: incident signal in vertical polarization and reflected signal in horizontal polarization;VV: incident signal in vertical polarization and reflected signal in horizontal polarization) gave a difference between millet and the two other crops at the beginning cultural season (July 11). Difference appears from the second third of September when the harvest of cereals crops (millet and maize) began. From middle of October, the peanut signal dropped sharply thus facilitating the differentiation of peanut from the two other crops. This analysis led to the identification of data that have could be used to discriminate these crops (useful data). Classification of the combined useful data gave an overall high accuracy of 82%, with 96%, 61% and 65% for peanut, maize and millet, respectively. The non-agricultural areas (water, natural vegetation, habit, bare soil) were well classified with an accuracy greater than 90%.

The Essential Oil of Ocimum americanum from Senegal and Gambia as a Source of Methyleugenol for the Control of Bactrocera dorsalis, Fruit Fly

The fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) is one of the most important pests in all mango-producing areas, particularly in West Africa. In Senegal, O. americanum leaves have been used for several years to control this fly. However, to our knowledge, no chemical studies have been carried out. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the chemical composition of the essential oil of O. americanum leaves collected in Senegal and Gambia. The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of these leaves is analyzed by GC/FID and GC/MS. Yields of essential oils from O. americanum leaves are 3.84% and 2.13%, respectively. Analysis of these essential oils by GC/FID and GC/MS allowed the identification of 23 compounds representing almost 100% of the total compositions. These essential oils are mainly dominated by methyleugenol (72.0% and 75.8%, respectively). Other components in significant percent are trans-β-caryophyllene (13.9% and 13.0%, respectively), germacrene D (4.1% and 3.7%, respectively), β-elemene (3.3% and 0.9%, respectively). Due to the high methyleugenol content, this study explains the attractive potential of O. americanum towards B. dorsalis. In perspective, we plan to evaluate the attractive effect of the essential oil and leaf powder of O. americanum against B. dorsalis, a real pest of mango orchards in Senegal.

Growth and Transpiration of <i>Jatropha curcas</i>L. Seedlings under Natural Atmospheric Vapour Pressure Deficit and Progressive Soil Drying in Semi-Arid Climate

During the last decade, Jatropha curcas L. (J. curcas) has gained much attention worldwide as biofuel crop. Although its cultivation is promoted in the Sahel, there is a surprising lack of data on its water use regulation and growth in this region. Here, we investigated, in semi-controlled conditions, leaf transpiration and growth of six accessions of J. curcas at seedling stage under natural changing in vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and progressive soil drying in Senegal. The experimental layout was a randomized complete bloc design and after 3 months of growth arranged to a split-plot at the implementation of water stress to facilitate irrigation. Under well water condition, there was no significant difference between accessions for leave transpiration that was positively correlated to VPD with high values recorded between 13 h and 14 h pm. Accessions of J. curcas used in this study showed closed thresholds at which transpiration declined except accession from Ndawene that threshold was lower (0.30). There is no significant difference between accessions for growth during the experimentation period. In 3 months, we recorded 23.57 g for the aboveground dry biomass and seedlings had about 14 leaves and 24.3 cm height. Positive linear correlation was recorded between aboveground biomass and root dry weight (p J. curcas might need complement irrigation for a better growth of seedlings especially during the dry season.