742 Environment and Ecology 39 (4) : 742—750, October—December 2021 ISSN 0970-0420 Performance of S 1 Inbreds of Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) Genotypes V. B. Narayanapur, Suma B., Minimol J. S., Sujatha V. S., Deepu Mathew, Santhosh Kumar A.V. Received 8 May 2021, Accepted 4 September 2021, Published on 4 October 2021 ABSTRACT The evaluation of 57 inbreds belonging to nine geno- types of S 1 generation showed considerable variability with respect to growth, pod, bean, economic and biochemical characters. In the process of development of inbreds, the S 1 inbred have not attained sufcient homozygosity showing high degree of variability. The maximum variability was observed for pod weight, wet bean pod weight per pod and fat content. Hence, selfng of inbreds for at least 6-7 generation is essential to get sufcient homozygosity in the inbreds to produce a highly heterozygous hybrid. Keywords Performance, Inbreds, Cocoa, Genotype, Homozygosity. V. B. Narayanapur Assistant Professor, College of Horticulture, UHS, Bagalkot 587104, India Suma B. Professor and Head, Cocoa Research Center, KAU, Thrissur, India Minimol J. S. Assoc. Prof. Cocoa Research Center, KAU, Thrissur, India Sujatha V.S Professor and Head, Dept of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, KAU, Thrissur, India Deepu Mathew Assistant Professor, Center for Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, KAU, Thrissur, India Santhosh Kumar A.V. Professor and Head, Dept. of Tree Physiology and Breeding, College of Forestry, Thrissur, India Email: vbnhort@gmail.com *Corresponding author INTRODUCTION Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is the third important beverage crop next to tea and cofee. The processed seeds are used for the production of cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is of great importance because of its use in the chocolate, cosmetic, confec- tionaries, perfumeries, pharmaceuticals industris. It is native species of tropical Amazon rain forest of South America (Cheesman 1944, Motamayor et al. 2002). Olmecs used the name “kakawa” and it was believed that, they were the frst to grow cocoa as a domestic crop (Coe and Coe 1996). The term cocoa has been derived from the word ‘cacahoatl’ which was earlier used by the Aztec Indians. According