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Amazonian cocoa has a new edge: Two standout cultivars could change how growers fight witches' broom
- May 19, 2026 at 10:40 PM
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Witches' broom disease, caused by the fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa, decimated cocoa crops in southern Bahia state, Brazil, in the 1990s. It was even the subject of a local soap opera and continues to plague the chocolate industry in the Amazon region. However, a recent study published in Scientific Reports offers hope that increased cocoa production in the Amazon region will not rely so heavily on fungicides and fertilizers.
Originally published at Phys.org