The Effect of Maternal and Paternal Genotype on Seed Lipid Content, Composition, and Thermal Traits in Theobroma cacao

The seeds of Theobroma cacao L. are highly valued for their high content and composition of cocoa butter. Across many plant species, both parental genotypes influence seed lipid traits, but this phenomenon has not been deeply studied in cacao. Here, seeds from reciprocal crosses of cacao genotypes PA150 and SCA6, as well as from open pollinated fruits of PA150 were used to investigate the maternal and paternal influences on cocoa butter content, triglyceride composition, and thermal properties such as melting and recrystallization. Fat content was found to vary significantly among the seeds of the three differentially generated fruits. PA150 open pollinated had the highest significant total fat content (53.84%), followed by PA150 maternal x SCA6 paternal (50.97%) and SCA6 maternal x PA150 paternal (46.87%). The composition of several triglycerides and physical traits were also found to vary significantly among the progeny of these crosses. There were significant differences between reciprocal crosses (PA150 maternal x SCA6 paternal and SCA6 maternal x PA150 paternal) in melting peak temperature, POP and OOO content. There were also significant differences in melting enthalpy, recrystallization peak, POP, POS, SOS, OOO, and PPS content between the PA150 maternal x SCA6 paternal and PA150 open pollinated crosses. Directionality of the cross significantly affected cocoa butter traits tested in this study which is of importance for the development of specified functional traits useful for culinary, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical uses.