MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISATION OF COCOA VARIETIES (THEORY AND PRACTICE) (FOUR DAY SHORT COURSE FOR FARM MANAGERS, TECHNICIANS AND TRAINERS)

Pre-requisite: No pre-requisites

Course description: 

• Introduction to the origin and domestication of cocoa. 
• Taxonomy of cocoa, introduction to cocoa populations, cocoa landraces, hybrids.
• Historical collections and the establishment of genebanks. 
• Historical and contemporary approaches to the study of cocoa systematics. 
• Concept of descriptors and the determination of a standardized descriptor shortlist.
• Sampling descriptor traits in the field. 
• Laboratory recording of descriptors. 
• Statistical treatment of data. 
• Introduction to molecular taxonomy.  

At the end of the course, students will be able to characterise cocoa genotypes based on pod, flower and other vegetative descriptors.