Performance of identified cocoa clones for morphological and yield traits during initial growth phase

Abstract

Performance of identified cocoa clones (TNAU CC 1 to 9) was studied for morphological and yield characters at Coconut Research Station, Aliyar Nagar. As the seedling progenies show wider genetic variability, to maintain true to type, grafted plants were used. Data collected for plant height, stem girth, number of flowers per tree, number of pods per tree, pod weight, dry bean weight per pod and single dry bean weight revealed that the nine identified cocoa clones showed significant variation. Among the clones, TNAU CC 5 recorded the highest plant height (164.5 cm), stem girth (15.16 cm), flower number per cushion (6.32), number of flower cushions per tree (65.2), No. pods harvested per tree (13.40) and pod weight (396.03 g).