evaluation of cocoa germplasm for resistance to witches' broom disease (cru-trinidad)
(associated with the Project on Cocoa Productivity and Quality Improvement: A Participatory Approach)
Project Dates: Phase I: 1998-2002; Phase II: ongoing from 2003
Funding: American Cocoa Research Institute (Phase I only), World Cocoa Foundation, and Common Fund for Commodities/International Cocoa Organization/Bioversity International
Research Institute: Cocoa Research Unit, University of the West Indies
Project Leader: Dr. Pathmanathan Umaharan (pathmanathan.umaharan@sta.uwi.edu)
Country: Trinidad and Tobago (Latin America & Caribbean regional project)
Key Activities:
- Development of efficient methods to evaluate for witches’ broom resistance.
- Evaluation of representative trees in the International Cocoa Genebank collection for witches’ broom resistance. One of the two international cacao germplasm field collections is located at the Cocoa Research Unit.
Significance: Clones identified as witches’ broom resistant will be made available to farmers and other researchers.
Recent Papers Published:
Thévenin, J. M., R. Umaharan, S. Surujdeo-Maharaj, B. Latchman, C. Cilas and Butler, D. R. 2005. Relationships between black pod and witches’ broom diseases in Theobroma cacao. Phytopathology 95: 1301–1307. (Download PDF: 109KB)