Physical and physiological aspects in cocoa seeds influenced by fruit maturity stage

Abstract

The determination of the harvest time is one of the crucial aspects to consider for obtaining high-quality seeds, which can be established based on the fruit maturity stage. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of seeds from cocoa clones based on the fruit maturity stage, aiming to determine the ideal harvest time. The experimental design used was completely randomized in a 4 x 4 factorial scheme, with four maturity stages based on the visual coloration of the fruit exocarp (green, semi-green, semi-ripe, and ripe) and four clones (SJ02, CEPEC 2006, PH16, and CCN51). After extraction from the fruits, the seeds underwent analysis, including assessment of physical aspects (length, width, water content, and dry matter) and physiological aspects (germination, germination speed index, seedling emergence, and electrical conductivity). The biometric results showed low influence of the maturity stages, not being sufficient to define the ideal harvest stage. The ripe stage (yellow-orange exocarp) for the studied clones enabled obtaining cocoa seeds with higher quality, generally indicating it as the ideal harvest time.