Interrelationship and Association of Characters in Robusta Coffee (Coffea Canephora Var. Robusta)

Abstract

Commercial coffee is obtained from the processed beans of two species of the genus Coffea namely C. arabica and C. canephora, the former yielding arabica coffee and the latter yielding robusta coffee. Most of the agronomic characters of crop plants are controlled by polygenes and hence they show different levels of interrelationships. Analysis of correlation between such characters and further study of relative contribution of each character towards the genetic potential of the species provide valuable tools to identify the lead characters among them so that further improvement programmes could be based on such characters. The present study of the agronomically important polygenic characters of robusta coffee, utilizing the robusta coffee germplasm maintained in the Regional Coffee Research Station, Chundale, Wayanad, Kerala, India by the Central Coffee Research Institute of India has shown that girth of primary branches, weight of 100 dry fruits and percentage of A grade beans have got significant positive correlation with the maximum number of other characters. Factor analysis revealed that bush spread showed the maximum factor loading followed by length of primary branches and girth of primary branches. This shows the strength of the association of these characters with others and their importance in robusta breeding programmes.