Abstract

BERLINGERI, Chiara et al. Agronomic evaluation of 18 lines of coffee plants in La Vitu locality, Trujillo State, Venezuela. Bioagro [online]. 2007, vol.19, n.1, pp.27-33. ISSN 1316-3361.

With the objective of obtaining highly productive and low bearing varieties of coffee plants well adapted to the agro-ecological conditions of Trujillo State in Venezuela, the vegetative and productive performance of Catimor and Sarchimor elite lines were evaluated under low cost agronomic management. The study began during 1998 at the locality of La Vitu, Trujillo State, at 1100 meters a.s.l. From third year age and during three consecutive years (2001, 2002, and 2003), the cherry bean production by plant was evaluated in 18 lines of the genetic material. During 2001 and 2003 the following vegetative variables were measured: number of primary branches, number and length of production branches, stem diameter, plant height, and compaction degree. The combined analysis showed significant differences in plant production among genotypes, years, and their interaction. Differences were also found for all the vegetative variables, which were mainly due to environmental effect (years), and not to genotypes. The B18 6/3 and B4 3/5 lines had the greatest yield (2.85 and 2.63 kg·plant^-1) thus surpassing the control 'Catuaí Rojo' (1.2 kg·plant^-1).

Keywords : Coffea arabica; genetic improvement; Catimor; Sarchimor.