Resumen

RAMOS C., Gladys; GOMEZ M., Álvaro  y  DE ASCENCAO, Antonio. Caracteres morfológicos determinantes en dos poblaciones de cacao criollo del occidente de Venezuela. Agronomía Trop. [online]. 2004, vol.54, n.1, pp.45-62. ISSN 0002-192X.

The study was carried out in San Juan of Lagunillas, Mérida, Venezuela at 1 050 m.s.n.m., on a sample of cocoa plants, from the INIA-Mérida Gene Bank, composed by a population of ten materials of native Guasare cocoa and six materials of the Andean foothills. An evaluation of 40 morphological characters in flowers, fruits and almonds, according to the methodology presented by the catalogue of descriptors of CATIE, was carried out. Data were analyzed through principal components (multivariate method), with the propose of selecting the descriptors that best contributed to the morphological characterization of the native types, that were influenced to a lesser degree by the environment and responded to stable characters. Results show the separation of the two groups and characterize the Guasare group by a strong ruggedness of the surface of the fruit, the roundness of the almonds expressed in an almost 1:1 relationship width: thickness and a white color of the cotyledons. For the materials from the Andean foothills, the most important descriptors were: length of the style, the intensity of pigmentation and the width of the sepals, the number of ovules and the smooth surface of the fruit. Traits associated with the fruit such as thickness and pigmentation of the ridge, thickness of the primary furrow, basal constriction, thickness of the almonds, the relationship between ovules/number of almonds and length of the ovary were not determinants. This methodology simplifies the quantity of observations required, reducing the number of variables and facilitating the characterization of morphgeographic groups.

Palabras clave : Characterization; germplasma; native cocoa; morphgeographic groups.