White Maize (Zea Mays L., 1753) six new lineages Agro-morphological performance In Cote D’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire produced 1,176,000 corn tons in 2020. In cereal harvest terms this represents 41%. Thus, for Ivorian populations food self-sufficiency, maize plays a crucial role. Due to that importance and in a national production dropping context, this study objective was to compare six new lines of white colored corn. For that, lineages L1D0, L4D200, L46D300, L72D300, L103D200 and L104D200 phylogenetic resources were used. Their agro-morphological and production characteristics have been evaluated. A significant diversity between studied lineages was highlighted. Ascending hierarchical classification (AHC) revealed that this variability is structured into 3 groups. Thus, group 1 (L46 and L104) characterized by lineages involving small plants with reduced insertion heights, leaf lengths and surface. Then Group 2 (L1(EV8728), L71, L103), not influenced by any factor. Group 3 (L4) contains plants with large diameters and lodging sensitivity high index. Regarding production parameters, 3 Sets were identified. Set 1 (L04, L72, L103 and L104), characterized by high values ​​for variables linked to silk appearance, 50% of pollen released, spike and panicle appearance. Set 2 (L46) showed low spike weight. Set 3 included EV8728(L1), characterized by spike grain number high values. Within this study limits, these results can contribute to a maize productivity program improvement in Côte d'Ivoire.