STRUCTURE OF NEMATODE COMMUNITIES ASSOCIATED WITH COWPEA (VIGNA UNGUCULATA, (L) WALP) AS A FUNCTION OF THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOIL IN THE MARKET GARDENING AREA OF SOTUBA (MALI)

A nematologicalstudy on cowpea (Vignaunguculata, (L) Walp) wascarried out in 2022 during the rainyseason on the experimental plots of the Sotubaresearch station in Mali. The aim of the studywas to identifyparasiticnematodesassociatedwiththislegume and to assess the influence of soilfactors on the nematofauna. Nematodeswereextractedusing the modified Baermann technique. From the observation of soilsamples, 6 genera of phytonematodeswereidentified:These are Pratylenchus, Tylenchorhynchus, Helicotylenchus, Scutellonema, Meloidogyne and Tylenchus. The generaHelicotylenchus and Tylenchuswere the most important in terms of density and representapproximately 55% of the number of nematodesencountered. The pedologicalanalysisincludingchemical and granulometricparametersshowed an acidictendency of the soil, with a silty-sandy structure. The porosity of suchsoilcouldbe the basis of the distribution of nematodeswhichwerefound to be more abundant in the third plot whichcontains the highest rate of sand 69%. Among the nematodesidentifiedwerespeciesthat are harmful to cowpea, includingMeloidogyne. This study shows the need for phytosanitary monitoring to preventextremeoutbreaksthatcould cause a significant drop in cowpeayields.