Morphological characterization of cocoa trees in an experimental farm in Venezuela cultivated with different fertilizers: a data analysis application

Cocoa‚ unlike other industrialized crops‚ comes from small production units in underdeveloped countries in Africa‚ Asia and Latin America. Yields per hectare‚ in these family-run units‚ depend on a variety of factor‚among which we can mention: region‚ growing and harvesting techniques and type of cocoa trees. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the morphological characterization (i.e. fruit and bean size‚ weight and shape) from different cocoa trees cultivated with different sources of fertilizers (chemicals‚ organic and combined) in an experimental farm in Merida‚ Venezuela. Discriminant analysis, a multivariate data analysis technique‚ was employed in order to classify cocoa trees with higher yields depending on the fertilizer used. The main finding of the study is that beans with higher weight and size were obtained from trees cultivated with organic fertilizer. Meanwhile‚ the cocoa trees fertilized with chemicals‚ had beans with lower weight and size. These results could prove relevant for state-agencies in charge of promoting sustainable growing and harvesting techniques to agricultural farmers in underdeveloped countries‚ particularly in Latin America.