Seasonal Performance of Cocoa for Pod and Bean Characters in Tamil Nadu

The seasonal performance of plus trees of cocoa in the farmers plantations were evaluated for pod and bean characters during two cropping seasons of July 2011 to June 2012. The pod weight, pod length and girth, number of beans per pod, bean length and girth, single fresh bean weight were studied. Significant differences were observed between the two seasons as well as among the plus trees of cocoa for the characters studied. The mean pod length recorded during July to December and January to June was 16.85 cm and 15.33 cm respectively while the mean pod girth wasthe maximum during the first season (26.46 cm) than the latter (24.13 cm). The mean pod weight recorded was 506.86 g and 461.98 g in the first and second seasons studied. The mean number of beans per pod was the maximum during July to December season (42.85) while January to June season recorded a mean of 40.77. The mean length and girth of beans observed in the plus trees studied was 2.30 cm and 3.37 cm respectively during July to December season while a mean of 2.19 cm and 3.08 cm was recorded for bean length and girth during January to June season. Seasonal influence of the performance of plus trees for single fresh bean weight was observed as July to December season recorded the maximum mean of 3.26 g while January to December season recorded a mean of 2.89 g. The performance of plus trees of cocoa was maximum during July to December season for all the characters studied indicating the interaction of plus trees with weather parameters.