ASSESSMENT OF AGROMORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF CASSAVA ACCESSIONS GROWN IN THE SOUTH COMOE REGION (SOUTH-EAST) OF COTE D IVOIRE

Cassava is an important foodstuff for the Ivorian population. Côte d\'Ivoire\'s South Comoe region (South-East), known as the country\'s cassava introduction zone, breeds several varieties of cassava from all sources, whose cuttings are continually exchanged with producers in other production zones. Knowledge of the agromorphological diversity of accessions in this region will enable them to be better exploited to boost national production. An agromorphological characterization was carried out on a collection of 45 accessions collected from growers in the region, using ten quantitative variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant phenotypic differences for all the traits studied. Principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed this polymorphism at 74.47% for the first two axes. Accessions were structured into 4 groups of morphological variability following Hierarchical Ascending Classification (HAC). These groups are distinguished by plant height, first branch height, number of lobes, central lobe width, central lobe length, ratio length/width lobe, petiole length, tuber weight per plant and total yield. The first three groups have varieties with yields in excess of 20 t/ha and constitute the best genetic resources for increasing cassava production in Côte d\'Ivoire.