Genetic Variation and Heritability for Juice Quality and Yield Traits in Selection of Sugarcane Genotypes under Irrigation at Early Stage in Ferké 2 Sugar Estate of Northern Ivory Coast

Abstract

Genetic relationships between important attributes in studying sugarcane populations through breeding and direct selection, are crucialto understand how changes made by selecting one character may cause changes in others. The study aimed to determine the best yielding sugarcane genotypes tested at early selection stage under sprinkler irrigation, in comparison with a check variety (R579). The experiment was designed following a randomized complete block (RCB), with 30 cane genotypes in three replications. Each plot consisted of five dual rows of ten meters, with 0.5 and 1.90 m of inter-row spacing, i.e. 95 m² per plot and nearly 6,000 m² for the whole experiment. It was carried out on a commercial sugarcane plantation of Ferké 2, in northern Ivory Coast, over two seasons (plant cane and first ratoon) as an early-season crop from, November 29, 2018 to October 26, 2020. In each micro-plot, different agro-morphological traits were collected at harvest from three central dual rows.