Genetic Variability of Sitophilus zeamais Subservient to Millet in Senegal (West Africa)

The millet is a plant very adapted to arid climatic conditions. Thus, it is exploited in many agroecological zones (AEZ) of Senegal where the Sahelian to Sahelo-Sudanese climate prevails. After rice, this cereal is the most consumed by Senegalese households. In addition to this vital function, millet plays an important role in the feeding of livestock and poultry. However, it is constantly under attack by pests like Sitophilus Zeamais, a beetle of the Curculionidae. To overcome the enormous damage caused by the insect, without resorting to chemicals products whose use regularly harms living beings and the environment, we tried through this study to highlight the agroecological zones hostile or naturally favorable to the survival of S. Zeamais, by the genetic effects they present on its genome. In fact, populations with low genetic diversity have fewer adaptive potentials than those that are genetically heterogeneous. Thus, we sampled 43 insects of S. Zeamais subservient to millet on stocks infested in 4 agroecological zones that are: NBA 1 , SBA 1 , SOHC 1 and BMC 1 . The exploitation of the Cytochrome B gene for sequences corresponding to these individuals has revealed a very high genetic homogeneity of SBA and SOHC insects, and a high genetic diversity of the NBA and BMC populations. Thus, the agroecological zones of the SBA and the SOHC, that are less exposed to genetic drift and natural selection, are more hostile to insect survival than NBA and BMC ones, that genetic heterogeneity caused by Genetic fluctuations contributed to the survival of S. Zeamais.