A list of suitable shrub species - D4.1
Creators: name: Diop, Falou
name: Faye, Adama
name: Anato, Moreas
name: Mboup, Hassna
name: Yameogo, Jerome
name: Barthelemy, Yelemou
name: Dembele, Sidiki Gabriel
name: Kone, Souleymane
name: Camara, Boumara
name: Cicek, Harun
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Shrubs
subject: associated crops
subject: Trees
subject: Soil fertility
subject: Soil fertility
subject: soil nutrients
subject: yields

description: Two different methodologies were employed to create a suitable list of shrubs and trees for project countries. First, extensive consultations with local stakeholders and farmers were held through community, village and field visits. PRA in each site also identified utilized and preferred species by farmers. Second, an extensive literature search was conducted covering electronic catalogues and databases, search engines and relevant scientific journals in Mali, Burkina and Senegal. Consultation of producers allowed us to compare their local knowledge about indigenous species with literature. This comparison revealed that quantitative impact of shrubs and trees on yield and other productivity parameters were not well appreciated by the local populations.

The literature search resulted in a total of 284 references reporting on species that are relevant for crops, human and animal uses. About 300 references were found to be irrelevant and excluded. This resulted in a Microsoft Excel list of shrub and tree species addressing specifically their uses, parts of plant used, crop associated and impact on soil nutrients (soil fertility). Both reference list and extended Excel list of shrub and tree species are available upon request. Most references were from Senegal (128 references) followed by Burkina Faso (108 references) and Mali (48 references). In total, the established list included 135 trees and shrubs (Mali n=24 species, Burkina Faso n=44 species, Senegal n=56 species). The literature review illustrated greater number of species in Senegal and Burkina Faso than in Mali where Gliricidia sepium was the predominant species studied. Although the Malian agroforesty systems are dominated by Vitellaria paradoxa, Parkia biglobosa, Piliostigma reticalatum, Guiera senegalensis there were almost no references dealing with these species in Mali. Fifteen species commonly studied in Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal were: A. nilotica, A. senegal, A. seyal, Adansonia digitata, Anacardium occidentale, Anogeissus leiocarpa, Balanites aegyptiaca, Combretum glutinosum, Faidherbia albida, Guiera senegalensis, Moringa oleifera, Parkia biglobosa, Pterocarpus erinaceus, Sclerocarya birrea and Vitellaria paradoxa. Different parts of these species were used but the leaf was the most used part of plants. In Mali, soil fertilization (at 69%) was the most studied topic, while In Burkina Faso, the focus was mostly for feeding animal and human (59% of total uses reported). In Senegal, the uses of trees and shrubs reported were equally balanced between disease treatment, fertilization, fodder (animal) and feeding (human).

The research on the impact of shrubs/trees on associated crops yield was scarce. In Mali, some studies provided the yields of crop associated to shrubs/trees but without providing the results of the control (without shrubs/trees). This make difficult to assess the real impact of these species on crop productivity. Some on-station studies conducted in Senegal by Diakhaté et al., (2016) and Bright et al., (2017), reported yield increases by the presence the shrub (G. senegalensis and P. reticulatum) without any fertilization. Moreover, the references concerning soil nutrients studying G. senegalensis, Parkia biglobosa, Piliostigma reticulatum and Vitellaria paradoxa showed higher contents of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus under the canopy compared to outside shrub effect. The literature review revealed that there is very limited scientific knowledge on the impact of shrubs and trees on crop production. Most of the studies only report on effect of one species on soil or crops. This result reinforces the importance of SustainSahel approach of assessing the existing systems with more than one species.

The deliverable will be disseminated with producers and other stakeholders in collaboration with WP2 team, using focus group discussions and innovation platforms. At the scientific level, dissemination will take place by means of a peer-reviewed publication summarizing the main outcomes of the literature search.