Superior varieties of robusta coffee adapted to high elevation based on farmer selection

Abstract

Abstract Indonesia is one of world’s top five coffee producers and exporters. Two species of coffee commonly grown are Arabica (Coffea Arabica L.) and Robusta (C. canephora var Robusta). However, a few farmers at highland (> 900 m above sea level) of South Sumatera and Bengkulu provinces were keep interested to grow Robusta instead of Arabica. Gradually, they develope new superior clones selected from adjacent seed-derived populations using top grafting technique. Surveys was aimed to identify promising farmer’s selected clones to release as new superior varieties adaptive to high elevation. There are four promising clones, namely Pandi, Rakimin, Pawi, and Jasli, could be clearly distinguished morphologically. The average yield ranging from 2.14 to 3.85 ton of marketable green coffee bean per ha, substantially higher compared to check variety of BP 358 (< 1 ton per ha). Cup quality of those promising clones were categorized as fine Robusta as total scores resulted from sensory/cupping test were higher than 80 (ranging from 81.25 to 83.00) with some spicy and nutty notes. Based on those characteristics, it was reasonable to propose those four promising clones to be released as new superior varieties adaptive to high elevation.