Malays. Appl. Biol. (2018) 47(1): 97–102
FIELD PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED MALAYSIAN COCOA
CLONES REGENERATED THROUGH SOMATIC
EMBRYOGENESIS CULTURES
GIBSON ENTUNI1*, REBICCA EDWARD1, HOLLENA NORI1 and
AHMAD KAMIL MOHD. JAAFAR2
1Plant Science and Environmental Ecology, Faculty of Resource Science and Technology,
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
2Malaysian Cocoa Board, Cocoa Research and Development Centre, Lot 248, Blok 14,
Biotechnology Park, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak
*E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Accepted 26 January 2018, Published online 31 March 2018
ABSTRACT
Somatic embryogenesis is one of an efficient in vitro clonal propagation technologies with potential to be used to mass propagate cocoa clones in Malaysia. To ensure this technology for commercial production of cocoa across Malaysia can be applied, field performance of somatic embryogenesis-derived cocoa plants were evaluated for one year in Malaysian Cocoa Board, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia (MCB). Twenty-five cocoa plants derived from immature zygotic embryo and 25 cocoa plants derived from staminode explants of Trinitario variety were successfully propagated and acclimatized in greenhouse condition in UNIMAS before planted in field condition in MCB. Twenty-five mother plants from the same variety propagated through grafting were planted and used as control plants. At one year after planting, there were no major differences in growth parameters between somatic embryogenesis-derived plants with mother plants. Cocoa trees from immature zygotic embryo were slightly taller (998.1 mm), exhibit larger average stem diameters (34.6 mm) and taller jorquette branches (850.5 mm) than cocoa trees propagated through staminode cultures and grafting. After one year of field test, it can be concluded that somatic embryo-derived cocoa plants showed normal phenotypes and have growth parameters similar to cocoa plants propagated through conventional method of grafting.
Key words: Theobroma cacao, physiological characteristics, tissue culture, field experiment
