Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #337334
Title: Breeding and cacao productivity in Brazil (in portuguese) (melhoramento genético e produtividade do cacaueiro no brasil)

Author
item AHNERT, DARIO - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item MELOHELLEN, LAZARO - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item SANTOS FRANCISCA, FEITOSA - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item LIMA, LUCIANO RAMOS - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item Baligar, Virupax

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2017
Publication Date: 6/1/2018
Citation: Ahnert, D., Melohellen, L., Santos Francisca, F.J., Lima, L., Baligar, V.C. 2018. Breeding and cacao productivity in Brazil (in portuguese) (melhoramento genético e produtividade do cacaueiro no brasil). In: Souze Junior, J.O., editor. Cocoa: cultivation, research and innovation. Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil: Editus. p.151-181.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In Brazil, an early cacao breeding program was started in Bahia during 1930 by the defunct “Instituto de Cacau da Bahia” which selected local cultivars and used them to release clones and open pollinated seeds for farmers use. CEPLAC was created in 1956 and took over the breeding program. From 1960 to 1997 CEPLAC developed and released bi-clonal hybrid cultivars and produced hybrid seeds as commercial planting material for farmers. From 1989 onwards with the outbreak of witches broom disease in Bahia the program was completely reorganized in terms of concepts and breeding methods. Population breeding was initiated in 1996 and the concept of participatory breeding was adopted. Evaluations of advanced materials were done in farmers’ fields thereby increasing the field testing capacity. From 1997 onwards clonal cultivars were released in Bahia and Espirito Santo states, and currently there are 10 clonal cultivars available to farmers. During this period, the breeding program of CEPLAC branch in the Brazilian Amazon continued to release bi-clonal hybrid seed for farmers. Brazil began to collect wild cacao germplasm in the Amazon Basin in 1965 and the last expedition was undertaken in 2007 (Monteiro et al. 2010). Currently Brazil has one of the largest wild cacao germplasm collections in the world with over 2000 accessions (Lopes, 2011). The inventory describing the wild accessions was established in the field since up to 1985 and details of these accessions are given by Almeida et al. (1987). Currently, over 3300 cacao accessions are conserved in the germplasm banks maintained by CEPLAC (Lopes, et al. 2011).