Determination of the number of years in Arabic coffee progenies selection through repeatability

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the repeatability coefficient of grain yield in Arabic coffee and to determine the minimal number of annual harvests required for a satisfactory level of reliability at the plant level. The experiment was conducted in Campinas (SP) in a randomized complete block design with 2] FaRC; progenies of Icatu germplasm, for nine years, in nine replications. The repeatability coefficients were estimated by the method of analyses of variance, principal components based on correlation and covariance matrices and structural analyses based on correlation matrices. The selection of F ;RC progenies of Icatu germplasm can be carried out with an accu racy of 80% in the three first harvests. The repeatability coefficient estimated by the covariance matrix method was the most adequate methodology to estimate this coefficient, since it minimizes the effect of biennial bearing.