Inheritance of coffee bean sucrose content in the interspecific cross Coffea pseudozanguebariae×Coffea liberica'dewevrei'

The sucrose content of coffee bean is an important component of the coffee flavour: the higher the sucrose content in green beans, the more intense coffee cup flavour: Beans of the anciently cultivated cultivar Coffea liberica‘dewevrei’ have low levels of sucrose compared with beans of the wild species Coffea pseudozanguebariae. In the present study, the inheritance of the sucrose accumulation in the interspecific cross C. pseudozanguebariae×C. liberica‘dewevrei’ was examined. The sucrose content was measured in mature beans of both parental species, and in F₁ and backcross hybrids using high‐pressure liquid chromatography coupled to pulsed amperometric detection. The sucrose accumulation in all but one hybrid, showed genetic additivity. A segregation distortion was identified in the offspring of the backcross to C pseudozanguebariae. There was no year effect and only a low genotype × year interaction. Consequences for breeding, in relation to the coffee cup taste improvement, are discussed.