TITLE:
Phenology and Nutritional Value of Piliostigma thonningii Pods (Sanumach Mile Redh): A Sahelian Resource for Livestock Farming in Burkina Faso
AUTHORS:
Safoura Dindane-Ouedraogo, Florent Yambila Lankoande, Salifou Ouedraogo-Kone, Dominique Ouedraogo, Yacouba Sawadogo, Valérie M. C. Bougouma Yameogo
KEYWORDS:
Piliostigma thonningii Pods, Animal Nutrition, Phenological Cycle, Production, Burkina Faso
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.10,
October
30,
2025
ABSTRACT: One of the major challenges facing livestock farming in Burkina Faso is to optimise the production of animal feed resources. Feed resources are insufficient and poor, limiting livestock productivity. The aim of the study was to help improve the availability of animal feed to increase livestock production by using Piliostigma thonningii pods. Firstly, it consisted of phenological monitoring of Piliostigma thonningii plants at four (04) different study sites, namely Dafinso (site 1), Guena (site 2), Nasso (site 3) and Tondogosso (site 4), followed by an estimate of fruit production from pods per plant and bromatological analyses. Monitoring consisted of visual observation of flowering and fruiting of ten (10) individuals per site at 15-day intervals for 07 months. To assess fruit production, all pods per plant were harvested and the diameter at breast height of each fruiting plant was measured. The chemical composition was determined using near-infrared spectroscopy. Observations show that the flowering phase begins in July and ends in October, while fruiting begins in late August/early September and ends in early December. However, the minimum and maximum lengths were 2.87 ± 0.96 cm and 21.61 ± 4.06 cm, respectively, and the maximum diameters were 0.50 ± 0.24 cm and 5.00 ± 0.60 cm, respectively. PCA analysis showed a strong positive correlation between DHP and pod quantity (r = 0.72). Production was estimated at an average of 6.62 ± 3 kg of dry pods per tree, with 40 flowering trees and 62.5% fruiting trees compared with 37.5% non-fruiting trees. Chemical analysis of the P. thonningii pods revealed high levels of MAT (5.95% - 12.88% MS) and lignin (17.06% - 20.15% MS). Mastery of the phenological cycle could be of great use to livestock farmers looking for resilient solutions to their livestock feed requirements.