Plant & Animal Genomes XVIII Conference Plant & Animal Genomes XVIII ConferenceJanuary 9-13, 2010
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA
Chifumi Nagai1 , Rebbeca L. Heinig1 , Juan Carlos Motamayor2,3 , Raymond J. Schnell2
Commercial production of cacao in Hawaii is increasing and this trend is expected to continue. The increased acreage is being planted with seedlings from uncharacterized cacao populations from at least three initial introductions of cacao into the islands, and the beans produced are quite variable. An unknown type of cacao was first introduced to Hawaii in the 1850s. In the early 1980s, cacao seeds were imported by various groups. SSR marker analysis of 104 trees from the three islands confirmed that there are a wide range of cacao in Hawaii including Criollo, Trinitario (T) and Upper Amazon Forastero (UAF) and their hybrids.
The varied germplasm available makes it possible to select higher yielding genotypes. We initiated selection of superior trees, with yield and quality characteristics such as large seed size and high quality liquor, to develop cacao cultivars for Hawaii's environment. Three year data (2007-2009) for pod and bean characters were collected from 350 trees of a UAF x T population cultivated on the Island of Oahu. All the beans from the pods were micro-fermented and dried with commercial beans. Both pod index and yield estimates showed that variation among trees is large. Superior trees with high pod production and trees with low production were selected, and leaf samples are currently undergoing SSR marker analysis. Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) will permit the selection of new superior cultivars adapted to local growing conditions for long-term cacao improvement for Hawaii.