THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SEEDS LOCATION IN COCOA POD ON THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT SEEDLINGS
Authors: Boney, M.*, Sairul, J. and Mohd Yusof, M. Y.
Journal Issue: Malaysian Cocoa Journal, Volume 16/2024
Keywords: Cocoa, seeds, clones, nursery, growth development
Published On: 1/10/2024
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different seeds location in cocoa pod on the growth and development of seedlings at the Malaysian Cocoa Board Research and Development Centre nursery in Tawau, Sabah. The experiment was laid out in Random Complete Block Design (RCBD) by sowing three different location seed from pod; the base of pod (T1), the middle of pod (T2) and the tip of pod (T3), which taken from five (5) different clones; C1 - PBC 123, C 2 - MCBC 1, C3 - DESA 1, C4 - BR 25 and C5 - KKM 22 in three replicates. Two types of data were collected: parameters of length (mm) and weight (gm) of seeds before sowed, and stem diameter (cm) and plant height (cm) on weekly interval 12 weeks after planted (WAP). The result showed that MCBC 1 seed was significantly different in length and weight from others. However, based on the measurement of stem diameter and plant height after 12 WAP, there were no significant difference on seedlings that produced from seeds either at the base of pod, in the middle or the tip of pod, although most of the highest diameter and height were seeds from the middle of pod. Therefore, it can be concluded that all seeds still can produced a good growth seedling despite of its location in the pod or its type of clones.