Evaluation of cocoa plus trees (Theobroma cacao L.) for high yield in Coimbatore plantations

A survey was conducted in cocoa growing areas of Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu for identifying the high yielding plus trees to increase the production and productivity of cocoa in Tamil Nadu. Thirty five high yielding plus trees were screened from farmer’s field and yield characters were recorded. Maximum flowering was observed in Tc (Vedapatti) 62 while the pod set percentage was high in Tc (Vedapatti) 2. Pod weight, single dry bean weight and dry bean weight per pod was maximum in Tc (Vedapatti) 99 while Tc (Vedapatti) 72 recorded higher number of beans pod–1 and dry bean yield tree–1. This study shows the variability among the plus trees and the identified well performing plus trees can be used in breeding programs to get sustainable yield in cocoa

Evaluation of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) genotypes for pod and bean characters

Performance of cocoa genotypes was studied for pod and bean characters at Pollachi, Coimbatore district. Based on the continuous evaluation, ten plus trees were identified as best performers. To study the stability of these genotypes, the pod and bean characters were evaluated during 2017-2018. Five uniformly ripened pods were collected from each genotype for the assessment of pod and bean characters. Cocoa genotypes used for the evaluation were TNAUCC 1-10. These genotypes differed from each other. Data were collected for number of flowers per tree, number of pods per tree, pod weight, pod set percentage, number of beans per pod, dry bean weight per pod, single dry bean weight and estimated dry bean yield per tree. The coefficient of variation in these genotypes differed from 5.7 per cent to 17.8 per cent. Number of pods per tree and pod set percentage was found to be high in TNAUCC 2. Pod weight, single dry bean weight, dry bean weight per pod and estimated dry bean yield per tree was maximum in TNAUCC 5. Number of pods per tree showed significant and positive correlation with pod weight, single dry bean weight and estimated dry bean yield per tree. Single dry bean weight had significant and positive correlation with dry bean weight per pod and estimated dry bean yield per tree. Hence, the cocoa genotypes TNAUCC 5 and TNAUCC 2 can be further exploited for crop improvement program

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