2. Cocoa Production Stages and Plant Development

Theobroma Cacao is a C3-plant like the vast majority of plants.
 It is classified as a perennial tree crop that can grow up to 8-12 metres. Cocoa trees prefer a humid and hot climate. That is the reason why they grow best in countries near the equator. In fact, the region between 0 and 20 degrees south and north of the equator is also referred to as the "Cocoa Belt".
Cocoa likes to be grown along with other tropical forest plants. This means it is not a typical plant that is cultivated in monocultures, but rather in biologically diverse environments.

Stages of Crop Development:

Figure 1

Cocoa trees are planted by either sowing the seeds that have been extracted from the pods or by planting grafted plants.
10-18 months after planting, the stem of the Cocoa tree grows up to a height of about 1-1,5 metres. Then it curls into a whorl of 3-4 horizontal branches and one or more vertical shoots, also referred to as suckers. The suckers initiated the next phase in growth of the plant.
Flowers grow between 18 months and three years after planting, depending on the variety. The flowers grow at the bottom of the tree or on thick branches throughout the whole year. However, flowering increases druing the rainy season which lasts from the beginning of April and reaches its peak in July. One tree can have up to 50 000-100 000 flowers every year, but only 6% of the growers are naturally pollinated. That means that often, gowers have to assist this process manually. If pollination was successful, the pods start to develop and take up to 6 months to mature. Fruit production starts April and is highest in August.What is unusual about the cocoa plant is that it can have flowers and fruits at the same time at different stages of maturity.

Figure 2

A tree bears around 20-30 pods annually.  The color of the cocoa pods indicates the stage of maturity. It either changes from green to yellow in the case of a Forastero plant or from yellow to red in the case of Criollo plants.







Is flowering affected by photoperiod?

Daylength in tropical regions where cocoa is mostly grown is about the same throught the year. This and the fact that flowering increases during the rainy season, indicates that the flower production of the cocoa plant is dependend on the stimulus of water rather than the photoperiod. (= the period of time each day during which an organism receives illumination; day length)

References

Adjaloo, M. K., Oduro, W., & Banful, B. (2012). Floral Phenology of Upper Amazon Cocoa Trees: Implications for Reproduction and Productivity of Cocoa. Retrieved 09 2018, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2012/461674/

Pohlan, H. A., & Perez , V. D. (n.d.). GROWTH AND PRODUCTION OF CACAO. Retrieved 09 2018

Ritter Sport. (2018). Ritter Sport GmbH. Retrieved 09 2018, from The Cocoa Tree: https://www.ritter-sport.de/en/cultivation_preparation/Cultivation-preparation-The-cacao-tree-RITTER-SPORT/

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. (2013). Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.). Retrieved 09 2018, from TNAU Agritech Portal: http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/horticulture/horti_plantation%20crops_cocoa.html

 Pictures:

Figure 1: https://onthecocoatrail.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/s1500037.jpg

Figure 2: https://www.edenproject.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_carousel_full/public/image-carousel/theobroma-cacao-trunk-2.jpg?itok=3-vhslDI&c=ab024485c7c9b3493b62ace8588e266c