Molecular, biochemical, and sensorial characterization of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) beans: A methodological pathway for the identification of new regional materials with outstanding profiles

Abstract

Cocoa is an economically important product in Colombia. On-farm germplasm evaluations enable the selection of superior genotypes for propagation and distribution across the country. This study examined 12 cocoa samples from Antioquia along with five reference materials, employing 96 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Furthermore, these genetic findings were correlated with physical, chemical, and sensory attributes. Primary coordinate analysis revealed that the majority of samples were hybrids derived from five original germplasm pools, including Criollo, Amelonado, and three Upper Amazon Forastero cocoas. The integral profile of the 12 selected materials was classified into Modern Criollo (Rodriguez-Medina et al., 2019) [3], Forasteros (Rodriguez-Medina et al., 2019) [3], and Trinitarios (Borja Fajardo et al., 2022) [6]. Three key factors were identified to best account for the sample classification: type of variety, functional properties, and quality.

Keywords

• Theobroma cacao L
• Colombia
• Fine flavor
• Genetic diversity
• Antioxidant capacity