The intrinsic coffee bean outturn, percent weight ratio of two normal flat beans and the respective whole fruit, was studied in six Coffea germplasm groups in order to investigate the genetic variability for this characteristic. It was evaluated in C. arabica a group of five short stature cultivars, another group composed of 22 cultivars and selections yet a third group of 79 items comprising cultivars, botanical varieties and types, mutations and accessions from Ethiopia. In C. canephora it were studied three acessions of var. kouilou and ten of var. robusta. It were investigated also eight other species of the genus Coffea. Considerable genetic variability was detected within C. arabica and C. canephora and among the other species of the genus Coffea. The range of values among the last group was much larger than in any other group investigated. The magnitude of variations and the economic implication of bean intrinsic outturn indicate that this characteristic could be used as an additional selection criterion in improvement programs aiming at the development of high yielding cultivars of C. arabica and C. canephora.
coffee; flat beans; breeding; cultivars; pulp
