Phenotypic diversity of wild Sierra Leonean coffee (Coffea stenophylla) collected from Kenema and Moyamba districts

Abstract

Coffee is a major cash and export crop in Sierra Leone and is mainly cultivated in southern and eastern provinces. Kenema, Kailahun, Moyamba, Bo, Pujehun and Kono are major coffee growing districts in the country. This study looks at the extent of phenotypic diversity of the rare and wild Coffea stenophylla in Kenema and Moyamba districts. The Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H') revealed variations among the samples for the observed 13 morphological traits which ranges from 0 for both fruit colour and calyx limb persistence to 0.87 for angle of insertion of primary branches on the main stem. Among the 13 morphological traits assessed, angle of insertion of primary branches on main stem (0.87), growth habit (0.78), bean size (0.75), young leaf colour (0.66), stem habit (0.66) and fruit shape (0.65) exhibited high level of diversity while seed shape (0.58), stipule shape (0.46), leaf shape (0.43), seed uniformity (0.31) and leaf apex shape (0.06) showed low levels of diversity. This is the first report of phenotypic diversity of C. stenophylla in Sierra Leone and the study thus unraveled existence of diversity among samples. It is recommended that these observed variabilities be exploited in order to develop better accessions that are high yielding yet maintain the same taste. Additionally, genetic fingerprinting needs to be applied to provide a complementary assessment of the observed phenotypic diversity.