Evaluation of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) hybrids and parents for growth and yield characters
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2007-02
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An experiment was laid out with nine hybrids and seven parents of cocoa (Theobroma cacao Linn) to study the growth characters and yield performance. The planting of cocoa was done with a spacing of 2.7 x 5.4 m in a twelve year old areca garden of 2.7 x 2.7 m spacing at CPCRI Seed Farm, Kidu during 1991. The growth characters viz., plant height, stem girth, spread of canopy, height at jorquette and number of branches were recorded from the second year of planting for five consecutive years. Significant differences were noticed among the hybrids and parents in respect of stem girth, height of the plant and spread of canopy. The hybrid II-67 x NC 29/66 recorded consistently good growth, followed by the cross II-67 x NC42/ 94. Maximum vigour with higher heterotic effects for the vegetative traits was observed in II-67 x NC29/66 and 1-21 x NC29/66 crosses. The hybrid II-67 x NC29/66 registered highest pod value of 47.86 g and least pod index of 21.72 per cent. The cross II-67 x NC 42/94 and the parent II-67 also exhibited higher pod values and low pod indices. Yield traits viz., number of pods per tree and dry bean weight also showed significant variation among the hybrids and parents. There was increasing trend in dry bean weight and production of pods over the years. The highest cumulative pod yield and dry bean weight was 191 pods per tree and 7.489 kg dry beans per tree, respectively in the cross II-67 x NC 29/66 for five years from fourth year after planting. Maximum heterosis for yield trait was seen in the hybrids II-67 x NC29/66 and II-67 x NC42/94. The clone II-67 was the common parent for both the high yielding hybrids identified in this study, suggesting its usefulness as the best combiner for exploiting heterosis for growth and yield traits. Hybrids II-67 x NC29/66 and ll-67x NC42/94 are found to be most promising and the same could be exploited for commercial cultivation.
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Plantation Crops Research and Development in the New Millennium,(Proceedings of PLACROSYM XIV) CPCRI, Kasaragod 2002 p-236-241