Evaluation location: Puerto Rico, United States
The USDA-ARS Tropical Agriculture Research Station's Theobroma cacao collection was field-characterized in Mayaguez, PR, over five years (2019-2024). The characterization focused on highly discriminating phenotypic traits and agronomic traits of importance (e.g., length, width, and weight of pods, diseased pods, and pod index), recorded for all evaluated accessions. Cacao trees, established in a randomized complete block design in 2001, were cultivated in a full sun, irrigated, pruned, fertilized, and highly managed orchard. Trees were planted in a diamond pattern with two meters between trees and rows, with a three-meter alley between every second row for equipment use. All accessions were grafted onto Amelonado rootstock. Evaluations began in 2019 with already established mature trees. Both phenotypic and agronomic traits were measured to efficiently distinguish among genetically similar clonally propagated accessions and to identify accessions with promising agronomic potential.