Júlio Cesar DoVale

1 Introduction Meeting a rapidly rising food demand amid intense and unpredictable climate change is one of the major challenges faced by modern agriculture (Gudi et al. 2022). Although plant breeding stands out as the principal tool for achieving more resilient, resistant and productive crops, the long time required to improve traits of agronomic interest is incompatible with the urgent demand for new cultivars (Ćeran et al. 2024; Smith et al. 2021).

1 Introduction The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao L.), native to the Amazon basin and domesticated by Mesoamerican civilizations, is the primary source of chocolate. This product has evolved considerably throughout history (Martin and Sampeck 2015). Although commonly associated with pleasure and indulgence (Leissle 2017; Mielmann et al.

Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. References , , , et al. 2021. “ Role of Stress and Defense in Plant Secondary Metabolites Production.” In Bioactive Natural Products for Pharmaceutical Applications, edited by D. Pal and A. K. Nayak, vol. 140, 151–195. Cham: Springer. 2011. Plant Breeding for Water-Limited Environments. Vol. 8. 1st ed, 255p. New York, NY: Springer. 2006. “Unravelling Phenotypic Plasticity – Why Should We Brother?” New Phytologist 170: 644–648. , , and . 2018.