Diversity among genotypes of conilon coffee selected in Espírito Santo state / Diversidade entre genótipos de café conilon selecionados no estado do Espírito Santo

The use of multivariate techniques for factor analysis is an efficient alternative for coffee breeding programs. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity of 60 genotypes of conilon coffee based on agronomic performance in the northern state of Espírito Santo and to estimate the relative contribution of different agronomic characteristics towards the diversity of the species. The data were collected in an experiment conducted on the Experimental Farm of Bananal do Norte (Instituto Capixaba de Pesquisa, Assistência Técnica e Extenção Rural ­ INCAPER) in the southern state of Espírito Santo, and 12 agronomic characteristics were evaluated over four sequential harvests (4 years). Significant differences between the genotypes were observed for all of the characteristics, indicating the possibility of exploiting the high genetic variability to classify the genotypes into different groups based on their similarities. Of the agronomic characteristics, the duration of the ripening cycle was the variable that contributed the most to the variability among the 60 genotypes, with a relative contribution of 70.02%.

A utilização de técnicas multivariadas de análise de fatores é uma alternativa eficiente utilizada no melhoramento genético do cafeeiro. O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar a divergência genética de 60 clones de café conilon, selecionados pelo seu desempenho no norte do Estado do Espírito Santo, e estimar a contribuição relativa de diferentes características agronômicas para a diversidade da espécie. Os dados foram coletados em experimento conduzido na Fazenda Experimental Bananal do Norte (INCAPER), considerando 12 características agronômicas, avaliadas através de médias de quatro safras. Diferenças significativas entre os genótipos foram observadas para todas as características avaliadas, indicando a possibilidade de exploração da alta variabilidade genética para a classificação dos genótipos em diferentes grupos homogêneos, baseado em suas similaridades. Dentre as características agronômicas, a duração do ciclo de maturação foi a variável que mais contribuiu para a variabilidade entre os 60 genótipos, com contribuição relativa de 70,02%.

Molecular characterization of arabica and Conilon coffee plants genotypes by SSR and ISSR markers

The molecular characterization of ten genotypes of the Coffea arabica plants and of seven genotypes of C. canephora having interesting features for coffee breeding programs was carried to select the parents for breeding. A total of 40 SSR and 29 ISSR primers were used. The primers generated a total of 331 (307 polymorphic and 24 monomorphic) bands. Analysis of genetic diversity presented dissimilarity intervals ranging from 0.22 to 0.44 between the Conilon genotypes, from 0.02 to 0.28 between the Arabica genotypes, and from 0.49 to 0.60 between the genotypes of the two species in the joint analysis. Four groups were formed: I = genotypes of C. arabica, II = four progenies of C. canephora, Conilon group, and one non defined C. canephora (Conilon or Robusta), III = one progeny of un-defined C. canephora (Conilon or Robusta) and IV = one progeny of C. canephora of Robusta group. The grouping formed was consistent with the origins of each group. High stabilities of the bifurcations were found by bootstrap analysis. The use of molecular markers of the SSR and ISSR types in the diversity study was efficient in distinguishing genotypes between and within C. arabica and C. canephora. .