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Phenotypical characterization of Cocoa flowers (Theobroma cacao l.) in 40 experimental hybrids at La Represa experimental farm

Abstract:

Pollination is one of the most decisive practices in cocoa cultivation; therefore, to determine the self-compatibility and evaluate the morphology of the flower, it was carried out in the experimental farm "La Represa", Quevedo, Ecuador. For this purpose, a completely randomized DCA design was used, with forty treatments, considering treatments the cocoa hybrids used, with three repetitions. Tukey's multiple range test (P≤0.05) was applied to determine the differences between the means. Manual pollination tests were performed to determine the percentage of fertilization with fifteen flowers per treatment, whose pollination rate stood out in the T26 and T38 treatments with 100% self-compatibility, followed by T15 and T35 with 80% anti-incompatibility. Variables such as the length and width of sepal and petal, peduncle length, length of staminoid and pistil, and the weight of the flower were also recorded where different hybrids stood out, such as T1 and T11 for sepal length and width with 2.70 and 8.20 mm respectively. In the height and width of the petal, the T10 and T26 treatments stood out with 2.50 mm. In the size of the peduncle, I highlight the T20 with 1.81 mm and T6 with 6.20 mm for the length of the staminoid. The length of the pistil, the T10, obtained the highest index at 2.50 mm. However, the weight of the flower highlighted the T13 and T20 treatments, registering the highest average with 0.065 g, concerning the other hybrids studied.