Hibridos entre Coffea e Psilanthopsis

Reviewing the taxonomy of the genus Coffea Chevalier stablished the new genus Psilanthopsis with a single species P. kapakata. This species had previously been classified as Coffea kapakata by Hirschfeldt and is native to Angola, Africa. A few representatives of P. kapakata were received in Campinas in 1953 from U.S. Department of Agriculture after strict quarantine inspection. In the 1955 and 1956 seasons several artificial pollinations were undertaken of the species Coffea arabica (2n equal 44) and diploid species (2n equal 22) of Coffea as C. canephora, C. eugenioides and C. dewevrei with P. kapakata as male parent. The number of pollinated flowers and the number of fruits and seeds developed as well as the number of seedlings obtained, are mentioned in table I. The percentage of fruits derived from crosses of Coffea arabica, C. canephora, C. eugenioides and C. dewevrei with P. kapakata were respectively 55, 17, 13 and 2 percent. However, the percentage of seedlings resulting from the normal hybrid seeds were 8, 35, 48 and 0 percent respectively. In spite of the larger number of seeds derived from crosses with varieties of C. arabica (194), only 16 seedlings were obtained, while relatively larger number of these were developed from crosses of P. kapakata with C. eugenioides and C. canephora. A morphological study was undertaken of one seedling from each successful cross, in order to compare the hybrids with their respective parents. The most vigorous hybrids have resulted from crosses with C. canephora and C. eugenioides. The hybrids with C. arabica var. laurina indicated that Psilanthopsis kapakata probably carries the allele Lr. The leaf of the hybrids are most frequently intermediate in size as compared to the leaves of their parents, except in the hybrid with laurina which possesses larger leaves