Stomatal Conductance and Chlorophyll Characteristics and Their Relationship with Yield of Some Cocoa Clones Under Tectona grandis, Leucaena sp., and Cassia surattensis.

Abstract

An optimum physiological condition will support high yield and quality of cocoa production. The research was aimed to study the effects of stomatal conductance and chlorophyll content related to cocoa production under three shade regimes. This research was conducted in Kaliwining Experimental Station, elevation of 45 m above sea level with D climate type based on Schmidt & Fergusson. Cocoa trees which were planted in 1994 at a spacing of 3 X 3 m were used in the study planted by using split plot design. The shade tree species were teak (Tectona grandis), krete (Cassia surattensis), and lamtoro (Leucaena sp.) as the main plots, and cocoa clones of Sulawesi 01,Sulawesi 02, KKM 22 and KW 165 as sub plots. This study showed that there was interaction between cocoa clone and shade species for stomatal conductance where stomatal diffusive resistance of KKM 22 was the best under Leucaena sp. and Cassiasurattensis with the values of 1.38 and 1.34 s.cm -1, respectively. The highest chlorophyll content, stomatal index and transpiration values was under Leucaena sp. shade. There was positive correlation between chlorophyll content and transpiration with pod yield of cocoa. The highest yield and the lowest bean count were obtainedon Sulawesi 01 clone under Leucaenasp. shade. Keywords: stomatal conductance, transpiration, diffusive resistance, shades trees, clones,pod yield