Abstract
Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is known for the production of high quality beverage while Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre) has been characterized as a neutral, weak flavored and occasionally with strong acid and pronounced bitterness. Viable and reasonably fertile interspecific hybrids can easily be obtained from crosses between the allotetraploid C. arabica L. and induced autotetraploid forms of C. canephora P. This study was carried out to determine beverage quality characteristics and biochemical components of 15 coffee genotypes, nine of them being interspecific Arabusta F1 hybrids. Beverage quality was determined by a panel of six judges using the prescribed sensory evaluation procedures, while caffeine, oil, trigonelline, total chlorogenic acids (CGA) and sucrose were analyzed in green coffee samples using recommended methodologies. The results indicated significant (p<0.05) variations among the genotypes for all the sensory attributes. The total score, which is a reflection of the broad coffee quality performance showed that SL34 and SL28 (which served as reference in sensory quality), were not significantly different from Arabusta hybrids SL34 x UT8, SL28 x UT8, N39 x UT8, SL34 x UT6, CaturraxUT6 and SL28 x UT6. The quality of some Arabusta hybrids was found to be similar to that of pure Arabica genotypes. Similarly, biochemical variables revealed significant (p<0.05) variations for caffeine, oil and sucrose, among genotypes except for CGA and trigonelline which were not significantly different. There were positive significant correlations between all the sensory characteristics. Sucrose showed significant (P<0.05) correlations with fragrance flavour, aftertaste and overall. Trigonelline showed a significant negative correlation with body and caffeine. All the Arabusta hybrids scored specialty grade (80 points and above for total score) and therefore future studies on their performance in many locations with more variable climatic conditions is recommended. Key words: Coffee, Arabusta, F1 interspecific hybrids, sensory variables, biochemical components.
Highlights
Coffee belongs to the genus Coffea in the Rubiaceae family that contains 640 generas and 1000 species (Charrier and Berthaud, 1985)
Liberica into tetraploid C. arabica cultivars without affecting quality traits has been a major objective of Arabica coffee breeding
SL28 and SL34 got the highest scores in all the sensory variables studied, though they were not significantly different from the Arabusta hybrids for several traits
Summary
Coffee belongs to the genus Coffea in the Rubiaceae family that contains 640 generas and 1000 species (Charrier and Berthaud, 1985). Coffea arabica L. commonly referred to as Arabica coffee, is tetraploid. Referred to as Robusta coffee, is diploid Robusta coffee has been characterized as a neutral, weak flavored and occasionally with strong acid and pronounced bitterness (Bertrand et al, 2003). The transfer of desirable genes for disease resistance from diploid species like C. canephora and C. liberica into tetraploid C. arabica cultivars without affecting quality traits has been a major objective of Arabica coffee breeding. The ploidy level differences between the tetraploid C. arabica and other diploid coffee species has been a major bottleneck for interspecific gene transfer (Ky et al, 2001a)
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