Population Structure of in the Main Cacao Producing Departments of Colombia.

The witches' broom () is considered as one of the main threats for cacao production and, consequently, for chocolate production worldwide. In this work, the genetic diversity and population structure of were analyzed for 59 isolates collected in five departments of Colombia and using 10 microsatellite markers. Analyses revealed 35 multilocus genotypes and clonal populations structure according to linkage disequilibrium analysis.

Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Novel Candidate Genes Associated with Productivity and Disease Resistance to spp. in Cacao ( L.).

Cacao ( L.), the source of chocolate, is one of the most important commodity products worldwide that helps improve the economic livelihood of farmers. Diseases like frosty pod rot caused by and witches' broom caused by limit the cacao productivity, this can be solved by using resistant varieties.

Factors Affecting the Dynamics of Frosty Pod Rot in the Main Cocoa Areas of Santander State, Colombia.

Frosty pod rot (FPR) caused by is the primary disease affecting cacao production in the major producing countries of the Americas and is one of the major threats to cacao worldwide. The incidence of FPR on clones with different levels of resistance was investigated in four localities of Santander State, Colombia, between July 2013 and May 2015. Dynamics of diseased pods were modeled using boosted regression trees, a machine learning technique that allows regressions to be performed without prior statistical assumptions.

Geographic Differentiation and Population Genetic Structure of Moniliophthora roreri in the Principal Cocoa Production Areas in Colombia.

Frosty pod rot (FPR) disease on cocoa, caused by Moniliophthora roreri, is one of the most devastating cocoa disease in the Western Hemisphere. In Colombia, the disease is particularly severe in the Magdalena Valley, which is considered the possible center of origin for the pathogen species. We analyzed the genetic diversity of isolates from the departments of Santander, Antioquia, Tolima, and Huila in Colombia using 23 simple-sequence repeats (SSR) markers.