THE PERFORMANCE IN FRENCH-GUIANA OF COCOA TREES BRED IN THE COTE-DIVOIRE

The authors of the article give the conclusions of a performance trial with hybrid progenies bred in the Cote-d'Ivoire, set up in 1984 near Sinnamary (French Guiana). The statistical design of the trial was tot al tree by tree randomization at a rate of fifty trees per family. The following parameters were studied : mortality (after planting and in adult trees), young tree growth, jorquetting, adult vigour, yield prec ocity, yield potential, losses caused by rots, flowering, fruit-set, p od filling and technological qualities of the cocoa produced. Comparis ons with material of the same origin, in trials in the Cote-d'Ivoire o r Vanuatu, revealed low mean potential yields (802 kg/ha/year of dry c ocoa over seven harvests), though higher than those of local controls. This could be explained by too high a planting density, exacerbating competition and reflected in an unusually strong link between adult vi gour and yields. Jorquetting was rapid and vigour good, whereas the te chnological characteristics were similar to those observed in the Cote -d'Ivoire. Nevertheless, this material was statistically more suscepti ble to rot diseases than the local controls. On the whole, the results provide further information on cocoa tree performance in French Guian a.