Causes and extent of yield losses in cocoa progenies

Abstract

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) progenies in a field trial showed a mean yield loss of 10.3% due to unusable pods. This was equivalent to an annual loss of 98 kg ha−1 of dry beans, and 64.1% (62.8 kg ha−1), 30.5% (29.9 kg ha−1), 4.1% (4.0 kg ha−1) and 1.3% (1.4 kg ha−1) were due to black pods, immature ripe pods, rodent damage and other damage, respectively. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd