Observations on Coffee in Kenya Pt. Ii. Vegetative Propagation of Coffee

Abstract

ONE of the first things noticed in any coffee plantation in Kenya is the extremely variable population. This is due to the heterogeneous nature of seedling material; even that from a 'selfed' tree shows marked variations. There are two methods by which this variation could be overcome, by breeding and by vegetative propagation. The breeding of pure lines of coffee seed is very slow and entails many years' work covering several generations; it is therefore unsatisfactory. In consequence, some three years ago, our attention was drawn to the second method. At that time much success was being obtained with the reproduction by asexual means of other tropical crops, and it was considered that it might also be applied to C. arabica. It is here proposed to deal with the work which has been conducted to date.