Definition of Architectural Ideotypes for Good Yield Capacity in Coffea canephora

Background Yield capacity is a target trait for selection of agronomically desirable lines; it is preferred to simple yields recorded over different harvests. Yield capacity is derived using certain architectural parameters used to measure the components of yield capacity.Methods Observation protocols for describing architecture and yield capacity were applied to six clones of coffee trees (Coffea canephora) in a comparative trial. The observations were used to establish architectural databases, which were explored using AMAPmod, a software dedicated to the analyses of plant architecture data. The traits extracted from the database were used to identify architectural parameters for predicting the yield of the plant material studied.Conclusions Architectural traits are highly heritable and some display strong genetic correlations with cumulated yield. In particular, the proportion of fruiting nodes at plagiotropic level 15 counting from the top of the tree proved to be a good predictor of yield over two fruiting cycles.