STUDIES IN NATURAL POLLINATION OF COCOA IN GHANA

Two dominant characters, normal green and red pigmentation as against albinoism, were used to identify cross and selfed progenies of open-pollinated pods from vegetatively propagated trees heterozygous for the recessive albino character. It was found that 6 rows of cacao spaced 2.4 m x 2.4 m could not prevent the transfer of pollen across that distance by pollinating insects. Other studies involving self-incompatible cocoa trees confirmed that pollen can be transferred over a wider distance. In an area of 31.7 m x 31.7 m, 24% of all pods harvested over 3 crop seasons were found to be the result of transfer of pollen from outside the plot, while 58% could be traced to pollen within the plot alone. Only 7% of the pods arose from mixed pollinations.