Influence of environmental factors on cacao biometric attributes. In: Agrotrópica v. 28 p. 123-140, 2016.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the influence of different sites of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) cultivartion, represented by different soils and cropping systems, on biometrics attributes of pods and beans. The 12 study sites are in the cacao region of Bahia, Brazil, in the humid zone. The variation and the statistical differences between the means of these attributes clearly indicate the influence of genotype and environment interaction. Attributes pod wet biomass, beans with mucilage wet biomass and number of beans were positively correlated with the cultivation sites represented by Argisol Red-Yellow Eutrophic cambisolic and Argisol Red-Yellow Dystrophic Cohesive abrupt soils. The highest values of length and dry weight of dry cacao beans correspond to Argisol Red-Yellow Eutrophic cambisolic. The dystrophic soils are related to lower dry weight values of cacao beans. The selection of cacao cropping sites by biometric attributes also highlighted the Argisol Red-Yellow Eutrophic cambisolic and Argisol Red-Yellow Dystrophic Cohesive abrupt soils. Understanding the variability of cacao biometric attributes emphasizes the importance of using technologies for achieving sustainable production of cacao with quality.