The coffee value chain is a source of livelihood for millions of people across the world and yet the resilience of coffee is limited by the relatively narrow genetic base among commercial coffee cultivars. A study was conducted to determine genetic variation, heritability estimates and relationships among coffee genotypes in Zimbabwe. Quantitative morphological characteristics of twelve genotypes were recorded under field conditions. There were significant variations in coffee yield, plant height, stem girth, number of primary branches, number of bearing branches, internode length and leaf characteristics, with no significant variations in seed characteristics and number of nodes. Broad sense heritability estimates for the quantitative traits ranged from 0.03% to 91.4%, being highest for plant height, coffee yield, stem girth, leaf length and leaf area. The implications are that coffee yield and plant height are independent of significant environmental influences while seed, branching traits and leaf traits are influenced by the environment in their expression. Yield was significantly correlated to branches per plant, plant height, seed traits and stem girth. Clustering of genotypes was influenced by plant height, yield and stem girth. Overall, few traits were important in distinguishing coffee genotypes, implying narrow diversity. Hybridization, further introductions from other producer countries, coffee gene banks and/or introductions from the wild, and concerted germplasm conservation efforts are recommended.
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