Morpho-agronomic and leaf anatomical traits in Coffea canephora genotypes

Abstract

Genetic variability is the basis for coffee genetic breeding. This study evaluated the potential of leaf anatomy and morpho-agronomic traits in studies of genetic variability in C. canephora cultivars. Ten genotypes were distributed in randomized block designs with three replicates. Significant differences among genotypes were detected by F-test (P < 0.05) for 13 of 15 evaluated traits. These results evidenced the heterogeneity of the studied cultivars, which is essential in composition of genetic basis in breeding programs. The Scott-Knott test detected variability among genotypes, grouped into up to four mean groups. Leaf anatomy traits presented the largest variations. Five out of seven leaf anatomy traits presented heritability higher than 80%, with emphasis on stomatal density (95.69%) and stomatal pore length (92.72%). Positive correlations were observed among morpho-agronomic and anatomic traits. Cluster analysis used the Mahalanobis general distance (D2) as a measure of genetic dissimilarity and divided the genotypes into two distinct groups. The inclusion of leaf anatomic traits to characterize C. canephora genotypes may assist plant breeders with better genetic discrimination and with greater security in plant selection when composing cultivars.