Cocoa Pods and Seeds Characteristics of Different Hybrid Varieties in Southeastern Ghana

Daniel Ako Tetteh,Daniel Obeng

doi:10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.13

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine cocoa seed and pod characteristics of different cocoa hybrid varieties. We obtained the hybrid cocoa pods between the months of July and August, 2020 from Seed Production Division, of the Ghana Cocoa Board. We determined the characteristics of the cocoa pods and seeds using three clonal varieties namely C 67, C 85 and PA 150. The research method was a survey and descriptive method. The observed parameters were number of cocoa seeds per pod, pod diameter, pod length and fresh seed weight. We selected the cocoa pods, weighed and grouped into large size, medium size and small size cocoa pods. The number of seeds per pod was high in clone PA 150 in large cocoa pod size. Average fresh seed weight was high in clone 67 while length of pod of cocoa was high in medium cocoa pod size in clone 85. Average pod diameter was high in clone PA 150. The relationship between the number of seeds per pod and pod length was significant and positively correlated. For a successful cocoa production, analysis of the physical characteristics of cocoa pod and seeds should be encouraged in order to provide useful information for future breeding strategies, on-farm selection and conservation efforts.

Highlights

Cocoa is one of the most important agricultural export commodities in the world and forms the backbone of the economies of some countries in West Africa, such as Coted’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon [1, 6, 10]
Mean number of cocoa seeds per pod was significantly related to the different treatments (p < 0.001)
Clone PA 150 was observed to have recorded the highest number of cocoa seeds per pod in this study compared to the other cocoa hybrid varieties

Summary

Introduction

Cocoa is one of the most important agricultural export commodities in the world and forms the backbone of the economies of some countries in West Africa, such as Coted’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon [1, 6, 10]. The economic value of cocoa is determined by the quality of the beans which include flavor, fat content, average seed weight, skin content, moisture content and defective seeds [7, 12]. Despite the economic benefits derived from the cocoa beans by contributing to GDP and providing livelihood to millions of people within the cocoa value chain, preliminary study indicates that data on cocoa pod size and seeds characteristics in Ghana and within the humid tropics is lacking. Cocoa seeds commonly known as cocoa beans are obtained from the pods. These pods are oval in shape, measure between 12 and 30 cm long, and contain 30 to 40 beans embedded in a mucilaginous pulp, which comprises approximately 40% of the bean fresh weight [8]. Each seeds contains significant amount of fat (40 to 50%) as cocoa butter [5]

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