Abstract

Sugarcane varieties namely, NCo376 and Co957 were the most cultivated up until 2008 on the sugar complexes of Ferké in Ivory Coast (15 and 30% of the cane fields). The cane yields under irrigated field were then lower than 80 t per ha; fault of having identified varieties more productive and resistant to the principal diseases like the sugarcane smut. In view of this, the resistance of 16 varieties to Sporisorium scitamineumwas evaluated under natural conditions of infection. The international scale of Hutchinson was used to classify the varieties. As results, varieties B47258, MY5465 and NCo376 were found to be most susceptible to the smut. The variability in smut reaction of NCo376 shows that different races of smut could be present in Ivory Coast. B51129, FR80674, FR80959, FR81254, FR81258, FR8183 and SP718355 showed intermediate resistance, but they do not have good agronomic performance. As for Co449, IAC58480, IAC64257, SP75184, R575, SP791230, SP701143 and SP711406, they were found to be highly resistant to the smut. Among them, SP711406 and SP701143 have the best agronomic performances and could replace most susceptible such as NCo376, Co957, Co997 and Co997Z. In 2012, SP701143 and SP711406 are in full rise (26 and 16% of the sugarcane fields in northern Ivory Coast).

Key words: Sugarcane, varieties, smut disease, susceptible, resistance, Ivory Coast.