The objective of this work was to evaluate coffee growth traits in the initial stages of development and to determine its correlation with the crop initial yield in different environments. Twenty-two cultivars resistant to rust and three susceptible ones were evaluated in five representative coffee growing localities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The experiment was carried out from 2005 to 2008 in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Besides initial yield, five growth traits were evaluated 12 months after planting: stem diameter, number and length of plagiotropic branches, plant height, and number of nodes. The genotypic and phenotypic correlations were evaluated for all traits. Pau Brasil MG1 and Catuaí Amarelo IAC 62 cultivars show superiority in at least four out of the five evaluated characters, in all growing localities. There is a positive correlation between initial yield and the evaluated growth traits, except number of nodes.
Coffea arabica; vegetative traits; phenotypic correlation; genotypic correlation; yield performance
