Département de biochimie et microbiologie, Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Agroforesterie, BP 150 Daloa, Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé, Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
A study was carried out in order to determine the effect of crossbreeding of the best cocoa clones through manual pollination on technological, physical, and sensory qualities. The trials of this study were conducted in three cocoa seed fields within the National Center for Agricultural Research (CNRA) station in Divo, Côte d’Ivoire. The plant material used for this study consisted of nine (9) hybrid families resulting from a 3 x 3 factorial design involving three female parents (T79/501, C20 and UPA409) and three male parents (POR, IMC67 and C151-61), all of which were mutually compatible with each other The number of regular beans and the weight of fresh beans were determined by the pod. The seed size, uniformity, overall flavor, and impurity level were determined for the fermented and dried beans. The evaluation of sensory attributes during a panel was determined after the transformation of cocoa beans into cocoa liquor. The results showed that the crossbreeding of C20 X IMC67 with 49.57 beans obtained the highest number of normal beans The study also showed that the weight of a merchant cocoa bean was greater than 1 g for all the plant material studied The UPA409 X IMC67 was better for the weight of a dry bean and was characterized by a specific aroma. Regarding the organoleptic parameters, aromas whose origin is maternal were the same for all hybrids.