Abstract
We have characterized the number of ovules per ovary (NoOV) in cacao plants originated from crossing the clones CCN 51 and TSH 1188 (segregating progeny) and determined the heritability of this characteristic in order to select plants with higher NoOV in this progeny. The NoOV was calculated as the average of 10 flowers per plant and ranged from 44.8 to 58.6 between the six clones (two parents and four clones belonging to their genealogy). In the progeny (n = 209 plants) the NoOV averaged 54.3 (range 44.1 to 67.8). The NoOV was distributed uniformly among the progeny indicating that this trait is conditioned by polygenes. Its heritability was estimated at 67.7%. The 32 plants with NoOV similar or superior to the genitor CCN 51 (highest amount among clones) were selected for use in the genetic improvement program. We showed that this population is suitable for genetic mapping, molecular marker identification and selection of superior cacao genotypes.
Highlights
Various attributes of the flower have been used for the identification of the descriptors of interest in Theobroma species
We have characterized the number of ovules per ovary (NoOV) in cacao plants originated from crossing the clones CCN 51 and TSH 1188 and determined the heritability of this characteristic in order to select plants with higher NoOV in this progeny
A great variability of characteristics related to the flower was verified for Theobroma cacao L. and Theobroma grandiflorum (Willd. ex Spreng.) K
Summary
Various attributes of the flower have been used for the identification of the descriptors of interest in Theobroma species. The number of ovules per ovary (NoOV) is one of the seven descriptors related to the flower, present on the list of 27 descriptors that involve leaf, flower, fruit and agronomic characteristics, adopted for cacao [5], as well as among the 29 descriptors proposed for cupuassu [1]. This characteristic shows itself as consistent within each cacao access, suffers low environmental variability and may be used to estimate the potential number of seeds per fruit, because NoOV is a component for cacao production [4, 6]
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