three late-season sugarcane genotypes (Co 957, M 3145 and FR 8069), were tested as plant crop under soil water deficit conditions at Ferké experimental station in northern Ivory Coast (09° 35'N, 05° 12'W, 323 m) for screening purposes regarding water use efficiency. The climate is of tropical type with a rainy season (from May-June to October) and a dry season (from November to May-June). Therefore, the rainfall patterns are monomodal. Most soils in the region are classified as oxisols (or ferralsols), depending on the system of soil classification used. The experimental design was a split-plot with four irrigation regimes applied at yield formation stage, as main treatments and cane genotypes, as sub-treatments. Crop water consumptions over different irrigation treatments were estimated by means of a soil water balance model. Cane as well as sugar yields differences obtained due to irrigation and water deficits were not significant, which resulted in very low water use efficiency. The interaction effect between irrigation water, i.e. soil water status, and cane genotype was not significant either, meaning that no genotype responded differently to irrigation treatments. However, the M 3145 genotype gave lower cane and sugar yields, as compared to those which showed higher soil water use efficiency, probably because of their lower tasseling ability in combination with a good tillering potential. This confirms the importance of growing low tasseling cane genotypes as late-season crops in northern Ivory Coast. Key words: sugarcane genotype, irrigation, soil water deficit, water use efficiency, water balance model, northern Ivory Coast.