Un programa de selección para Coffea arabica

Abstract

The development of high yielding selections of Coffea arabica, with capacity for uniform yearly production, may result in an effective improvement of the level of productivity of coffee plantations The improvement of coffee trees in the Western Hemisphere is being based on plant performance studies of individual trees to determine the best for progeny propagation and testing The evaluation of mother plants takes from 4 to 6 years. There is some experimental evidence, though not yet conclusive that, as in other plants, the correlation between the parent coffee tree and its progeny is lou The fact that self-pollination in coffee is prevalent, indicates that reproduction by seed is the logical form of distribution of improved material, and that, in a selection by lines, a good percentage of them will be sufficiently uniform to insure the reproduction of its characteristics when seed is used. A selection program by pure lines is proposed, omitting the phase of individual tree performance. Mother trees would be selected in the field with the help from local plantation owners and managers Based on plant characters progenies that show segregation would be eliminated in the nursery The pro-genies remaining from this first selection in the nursery will be transplanted to the field. Al Turrialba, they are being transplanted to squares of 4 x 4 trees each, to facilitate visual observation and measurements, and to determine uniformity. At the end of the second year in the field, it will be possible to select the more vigorous and uniform ones. The Turrialba program contemplates the vegetative reproduction at this stage to seed production blocks and yield trials. Thus, four years after the first plantings seed production of best lines could start and data about yield capacity of the lines will begin to accumulate.