Figures (7)  Tables (1)

    • Figure 1. 

      Timeline of the experiment.

    • Figure 2. 

      Plant architecture of shoot and root system configurations for 130-day-old plants of three T. cacao cultivars. Plantlets of (a) FEAR5, (b) IMC67, and (c) FSV85 were grown under sufficient (4 mM) or deficient (0 mM) K conditions.

    • Figure 3. 

      Leaf area of seven T. cacao cultivars (FEAR5, IMC67, FSV85, CAU39, FSV89, CCN51, and FSV41) grown under different K levels (0, 0.04, 0.4, and 4 mM). Values represent means ± SD of three biological replicates. One-way ANOVA was performed separately for each cultivar. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among K treatments. 'ns' indicates non-significant differences, based on Fisher's LSD test at p < 0.05.

    • Figure 4. 

      Dry weight of leaves and roots of seven T. cacao cultivars (FEAR5, IMC67, FSV85, CAU39, FSV89, CCN51, and FSV41) grown under different K levels (0, 0.04, 0.4, and 4 mM). Values represent means ± SD of three biological replicates. One-way ANOVA was performed separately for each cultivar and tissue (leaves and roots). Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among K treatments for leaves, and uppercase letters for roots. 'ns' indicates non-significant differences in leaf tissues and 'NS' indicates non-significant differences in root tissues, based on Fisher's LSD test at p < 0.05.

    • Figure 5. 

      K accumulation in leaves and roots of seven T. cacao cultivars (FEAR5, IMC67, FSV85, CAU39, FSV89, CCN51, and FSV41) grown under different K levels (0, 0.04, 0.4, and 4 mM). Values represent means ± SD of three biological replicates. One-way ANOVA was performed separately for each cultivar and tissue (leaves and roots). Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among K treatments for leaves, and uppercase letters for roots. 'ns' indicates non-significant differences in leaf tissues and 'NS' indicates non-significant differences in root tissues, based on Fisher's LSD test at p < 0.05.

    • Figure 6. 

      N accumulation in leaves and roots of seven T. cacao cultivars (FEAR5, IMC67, FSV85, CAU39, FSV89, CCN51, and FSV41) grown under different K levels (0, 0.04, 0.4, and 4 mM). Values represent means ± SD of three biological replicates. One-way ANOVA was performed separately for each cultivar and tissue (leaves and roots). Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among K treatments for leaves, and uppercase letters for roots. 'ns' indicates non-significant differences in leaf tissues and 'NS' indicates non-significant differences in root tissues, based on Fisher's LSD test at p < 0.05.

    • Figure 7. 

      Daily integral of net photosynthesis (AUDPC(A)) of seven T. cacao cultivars (FEAR5, IMC67, FSV85, CAU39, FSV89, CCN51, and FSV41) grown under different K levels (0, 0.04, 0.4, and 4 mM). Values represent means ± SD of three biological replicates. One-way ANOVA was performed separately for each cultivar. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among K treatments. 'ns' indicates non-significant differences, based on Fisher's LSD test at p < 0.05.

    • Cultivar K N Mg Ca
      mg·g−1 DW
      FEAR5 8.60 ± 4.62 24.77 ± 1.89 5.80 ± 0.10 14.63 ± 3.92
      IMC67 17.67 ± 7.89 26.27 ± 1.45 4.20 ± 0.26 9.83 ± 2.03
      FSV85 15.00 ± 3.63 26.20 ± 1.95 5.13 ± 1.70 11.70 ± 1.35
      CAU39 9.83 ± 1.52 27.77 ± 1.98 6.60 ± 0.20 14.43 ± 3.78
      FSV89 13.93 ± 7.07 26.60 ± 2.21 4.83 ± 1.36 9.87 ± 2.54
      CCN51 7.60 ± 1.47 26.10 ± 1.91 5.70 ± 0.89 14.73 ± 1.17
      FSV41 14.60 ± 6.35 27.27 ± 1.88 5.10 ± 0.96 11.20 ± 1.92

      Table 1. 

      Summary of macronutrient content (K, N, Mg, and Ca) in dried foliar tissue of 130-day-old plants from seven T. cacao cultivars, grown under sufficient nutrient conditions (4 mM K). These data are extracted from Supplementary Table S3, where the detailed statistical analysis is presented.