B G D Bartley
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The cacao (Theobroma cacao) plant is an important
Neo-Tropical species whose natural habitat is the Amazon
basin. Over the last 30 years there has been a
considerable geographical expansion in the availability
of cacao genetic resources. As a result the plant has a
rich genetic diversity that exists at two levels: that
of the primitive populations in the area of original
distribution of the species, and that of the derived
cultivated populations. This book provides a
comprehensive review of our current knowledge of the
diversity of the species. It starts by examining the
diversity and inheritance of the characteristics of
primitive populations in the Amazonian and Caribbean
regions. It then looks at the evolution of diversity
within cultivated populations first in South America and
around the Caribbean, and then beyond the Americas. The
book describes the inter-relationships between
populations based on morphological and molecular
markers. It also examines the conservation of genetic
resources and how these genetic resources can be
utilized to produce new cultivars.
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