Abstract

KOFFI Eric-Blanchard Zadjéhi, KONAN Konan Jean Louis, YAO Saraka Didier Martial, SIE Raoul Sylvère, DIARRASSOUBA Nafan

This study evaluates the crossing between improved tall coconuts through the comparison of agromorphological characteristics between parents and progeny and the study of genetic links. Fourteen agromorphological descriptors were measured on three improved coconut palms (WAT+ , RIT+ and PYT + ) and three hybrids from the crossing of these improved coconuts (GPY+ x GRL+ , GRL+ x GOA+ and GPY+ x GOA+ ). Results show that hybrids produce as many bunches per year as their parent, but they have more female flowers than the parent. Beyond Stem Height, Leaf Scar Number, Bunch number and Shell Weight, heterosis effects were observed. The highest values were observed with the number of female flowers (131.36%) and spikelets (31%), the Weight of Kernel (22.72%) and Copra (21.59%). Character heritabilities range from 0.02 to 0.97. The most heritable traits are the Number of Foliar Scars (h2 = 0.97), Female Flowers (h 2 = 0.53), spikelet on the inflorescence (h2 = 0.49) and Copra Weight (h2 = 0.51). The high positive genetic correlations between morphological traits such as the C20, C150 and the number of female flowers, the number of spikelets and the copra weight that are more than 0.70 should allow an early selection of the coconuts potentially high producers.