Variation of the In Vitro and Phenological Behaviours of 6 Cocoa Hybrids Using the Discriminant Model in the Second Year of the Study

To analyse the variation of the in vitro and phenological behaviours, typological analyses were performed. Six newly promising cocoa hybrids known as L120-A2, L126-A3, L231-A4, L232-A9, L233-A4 and L330-A9 were used. Three culture media namely PCG1, PCG3 and PCG4, using DKW basal salt medium, only differing in hormonal concentration, were sown with staminodes and petals from these hybrids. SCA6 and C151-61 were included as controls. The 6 cocoa hybrids were monitored for 3 months at the end of which the callogenesis and embryogenesis variables were scored on each them. Collected data were processed via the Principal Component (PCA), Hierarchical Cluster (HCA) and Factorial Discriminant Analyses (FDA). Regarding the PCA, the flowering level, fructification level and leaves flush as well as number of embryogenic explants, embryos number yielded per embryogenic explant and embryogenesis percentage were found to be relevant. As for the FDA, only the flowering level, fructification level and number of callogenic explants were revealed to be pertinent. This postulates that the pertinentness seems to vary as a function of the analysis. Genotypes L120-A2 and L126-A3 expressed the highest callogenesis and flowering level compared to 4 others hybrids. They are half sibs with IMC67 as a common male parent. The line whose the equation is written Z = - 41.365 + 0.907*Nivflo discriminated the 3 clusters identified in the proportion of 100%. It allowed not only the describing of clusters, but also the predicting of the cluster of belonging of a new individual from its flowering level values. The aforementioned hybrids could be used to produce cocoa aroma, theobromin and cocoa butter from cell suspensions in bioreactors for biotechnology purposes. Such cultures should be achieved when flowering and fructification are high.