Physical Quality Performance of Some Early Released Coffee Varieties at three Locations in South-west Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia is the of origin for Coffea Arabica L, which favor researchers, to select 37 CBD resistance varieties for different agro-ecologies/regions. However, the bean qualities of these varieties are not well studied across locations. Therefore, the specific objectives of this research were, to assess the physical quality performance of seven early released coffee varieties at Jimma, Gera and Metu under wet and dry processing methods. A factorial experiment in CRD with three replications was used. The error variances were comparable for the quality attributes considered and the results of combined analysis showed that variety for primary defect, odor & grade, and interaction effect of Loc*PM, Loc*Var, PM*Var for primary defect, secondary defect, total raw & grade whereas interaction effect of Loc*Var*PM for bean size were significant. The highest average bean size was recorded for744 x dry x Gera. The highest total raw quality result was measured for washed and compact coffee varieties at Gera and Jimma where almost all the coffee varieties had more than 37% total raw quality. In contrast, the lowest total raw quality was from variety 744 from Metu. Secondary defects of both wet and dry coffees, maximum values obtained from all coffee varieties under Gera and Jimma as opposed to those under Metu. Coffee odor showed variations among varieties and the lowest result was recorded for variety 744. Total raw was significantly and positively correlated with secondary defect. In general, it can be concluded that the superior coffee quality performance was determined under Gera, Jimma and Metu conditions in that order. The study demonstrated that the compact coffee varieties were superior over the open cultivars, indicating the influence of increased elevation in favoring adaptation and inherent quality traits and detecting suitable processing techniques. The present findings add evidence to coffee genetic diversity and environmental factors and the need to consider more suitable coffee cultivars and processing technique for ensuring sustainable production and supply of the finest quality coffees consistently and improving the livelihoods of the people, particularly the small-scale key actors.