Diversity of cacao fat in germplasm from Rondônia, Brazil

Abstract

Chocolate is food of high nutritional value made from the fat extracted from cacao beans. Fat content and melting point are features of utmost importance for the chocolate, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. This paper quantified the cacao germplasm diversity from Rondônia for these two attributes. Expressive diversity was detected among the 102 evaluated clones in April/May 2003 for fat content and melting point. The mean fat content was 55.53% (51.04 to 58.19%) and the mean fat melting point 29.55 °C (25.60 to 32.53 °C). The accessions from wild populations in Rondônia were outstanding for both attributes. The two periods (September/October 2001 and April/May 2003) affected the evaluated clones differently. The plot of principal components analysis showed expressive variability and was, to a certain extension, able to separate wild from domesticated accessions.