Efficiency of the coffee tree (<em>Coffea Arabica</em> L.) descriptors to distinguish “Catimor” lines

Abstract

Twenty six descriptors were used to distinguish Catimor, Coffea Arabica L., (Rubiaceae) lines. These descriptors were evaluated according to the heritability, the dissimilarity among sibling lines, the dissimilarity among sibling line families, and the cluster analysis, taking the genealogic information as clustering standard. Many characteristics listed among the coffee tree descriptors presented high heritability, showing that they can be used routinetly in the breeding programs. Coffee lines were not all distinguished in accordance to the genealogy, neither with high heritability descriptors use only (above 80%). The young leaf color descriptor highly effected the estimation of the genetic distances and the lines clustering, showing the importance of using single inherited alternative descriptors, such as the DNA markers, to distinguish coffee lines that are genetically related