Caracterización de calidad de genotipos de cacao (Theobroma Cacao l.) en la provincia de Orellana

Abstract

The research aimed to characterize the physical, chemical, and organoleptic quality of 24 cocoa clones (Theobroma Cacao L.) collected in the northern part of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The process of cocoa processing in each treatment and its repetition was carried out at the Instituto Nacional De Investigaciones Agropecuarias INIAP- Estación Central de la Amazonía EECA (National Institute of Agricultural Research INIAP- Estación Central de la Amazonía EECA). The physicochemical parameters evaluated were kernel size, kernel weight in 100 kernels, testa percentage, fermentation percentage, ash, fat, protein, total polyphenols, and pH of the cotyledon. In the sensory analysis, a tasting card was used to evaluate the attributes of aroma, acidity, bitterness, astringency, defect flavor, and aftertaste using an intensity scale from 0 to 5 points and another quality scale from 0 to 20 points; these data facilitated the elaboration of tasting category profiles. The statistical software InfoStat was used for data analysis using Tukey (p<0.05) analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the physical and chemical characteristics and the sensory profile varied considerably among clones, the most representative in physical quality being EET-426xEET-378, MM-A09, G5T2P6, MM-A11, and CCN-51, and in chemical quality NL-A15, AG-A02-chupar, MM-A08, INIAP-678, and AG-A04 Estrella. For the sensory results, bar graphs were made to illustrate the sensory profiles of each genotype, highlighting clones NL-A08, NL-A15, CCN-51xEET-233 as the best with organoleptic quality. It is recommended to perform primary analyses of cocoa methylxanthines (theobromine and caffeine) to determine quality superiority.