Description

Abstract: Cultural and environmental factors which enhance termite damage to groundnut in Burkina Faso include groundnut genotype, planting date, rainfall, distribution of rain, drought during the latter portion of the growing season, pod damage by insects and millipedes, harvest date, drying conditions after harvest and storage conditions. Termite damage to groundnut pods increases rapidly with drought during the latter portion of the growing season and a delay in harvest beyond that is optimal for a given location. The increase in damage is directly associated with a decrease in soil moisture during the end of the growing season and coincides with an increase in the contamination of groundnut seed with aflatoxin. Results of an evaluation of 16 groundnut lines, identified by ICRISAT- India as resistant to termites, has been conducted in Burkina Faso showed that several lines, notably NCAc 343, were resistant to plant and pod damage to termites