Residual Effects of Moisture Stressed Seedlings in the Nursery on Field Performance of Cacao Genotypes

Abstract

1. INTRODUCTION Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) belongs to the family Sterculiaceae and the genus Theobroma. Recently, with the application of molecular marker, cacao was reclassified to the family Malvaceae (Alvensonet al., 1999). Cocoa (Theobromacacao L.) is an evergreen tropical lowland tree crop, native to the rainforest regions of Central and South America and indeed West Africa, which became the major producer from the mid-1960s (Opeke, 2006). There are over twenty species in the genus but Theobromacacao is the only one cultivated widely (Opeke, 2006). It is a cash crop of international significance, and has been a major source of foreign exchange for producing countries. Cacao is highly valued for its seedsthe cocoa beans. West Africa is a dominant cocoa producing region, because of its suitable soil and favourable climatic conditions.

Perspective Chapter: Microclimate, Plant Stress and Extension of Cacao Frontiers to Marginal Agroecologies of the Rainforest Tropics

“…Extreme climate induces drought and tree mortality events worldwide, and further increases in tree mortality events are predicted under future climate. Tree mortality enhanced by drought is also noticeable even in moist and wet tropical forests [20,21]. Climate change is expected to exacerbate mortality events in tropical forest species especially the fruit tree species.…”