Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) Breeding

The suboptimal productivity in cocoa farmers’ fields, particularly those of small-holders who produce over 80% of the global supply, and the demand for cocoa that meets stringent quality and flavor criteria necessitate enhanced breeding methods and outcomes. Progress in cacao breeding has been hindered by a long-generation cycle, limitations in land availability for large-scale breeding trials, and challenging abiotic and biotic stress factors, including several major diseases. Cacao tends to be outbreeding and cocoa production is often reduced by the incompatibility status of planting material and pollination inefficiency. The complex breeding mechanisms in cacao and difficulty in predicting the performance of promising selections as parents also pose challenges to breeders. Reciprocal recurrent selection schemes have been most successful to date. The advent of breeding with genomics and the unravelling of the cacao genome portend unprecedented advancements in cocoa breeding. This chapter explores the past, present and future prospects of cacao breeding, and describes how the use of traditional breeding allied with molecular and genomic approaches can empower cocoa breeders to meet the need for improved planting material with high productivity and yield efficiency, disease resistance, climate change adaptations, nutraceutical value and superior flavor and quality attributes.