BREEDING FOR HIGH QUALITY ARABICA COFFEE VARIETIES IN VIETNAM

Introduction, breeding and selection activities have been conducted from 2006 to obtain some promising arabica coffee genotypes such as TN1 and TN2 hybrids and TH 1 pure line. They have exhibited their high adaptability to Vietnam conditions. Pure line TH1 also has high cupping quality. TN1 and TN2 overyielded the popular variety Catimor by 25% and 32%, respectively. The pure line TH1 yielded as well as Catimor, but it exhibited better cupping quality and higher 100-bean weight than the control (> 4%). Among TN1 segregrants in F2-F5, pedigree selection was carried out to select four line. After field evaluation, two lines (10-10 and 10-104) with uniform phenotype, acceptable high yield, leaf rust resistance and very large bean size were selected. Three reciprocal hybrid pairs between Catimor and Km16, Km46 or Km55 were developed. Heterosis in grain yield and bean size was significantly recognized