On farm Diversity, Farmers’ Practices and Status of Genetic Erosion of Harar Coffee (Coffea arabica L.)

Abstract

Farmers’ varieties are often well adapted to specific environments, and tend to have a advantage than in marginal areas. The present study was undertaken to assess farmers’ practices, on farm phenotypic diversity and status of genetic erosion of Harar coffee (Coffea arabica) Eastern Ethiopia. The principal component analysis was employed to identify morphological traits contributing to the variations in genotypes and associated traits. The result indicated that the highest preference index (25.60) with preference rank first was recorded for Fandisha genotype. The first principal component had high positive scores from number of secondary branches/ tree (0.94) and number of trunks/tree (0.30) as the most discriminating. The second component had high positive component loads for number of primary branches (0.76), number of nodes / trunk (0.33), and stem diameter (0.25) which were mainly responsible for the variations. Likewise, the third component had high positive scores for hundred bean weight (0.77), number of trunks/ tree (0.49) and stem internode length/tree (0.22). The result of the study indicated that secondary branches/ tree, trunks/ tree, nodes/ trunk, stem diameter, hundred bean weight and stem internode length/tree are the most discriminating traits among the set of coffee genotypes assessed.