Ssr Analysis Of Coffea Liberica Var. Liberica And Coffea Liberica Var. Dewevrei In The Philippines

In the Philippines, four coffee varieties (Arabica, Robusta, Liberica and Excelsa) are cultivated for commercial consumption. While Arabica and Robusta varieties are well-known globally, Liberica or Kapeng Barako is being developed as Philippine specialty coffee. Liberica and Excelsa are more similar in morphology compared to Arabica and Robusta since they are varieties of the same species, Coffea liberica W. Bull ex Hiern. In this study, 20 SSR markers were amplified for C. liberica specimens representing both Liberica and Excelsa varieties in the Philippines. While the SSR markers exhibited high polymorphism, between-site variation was much greater compared to between-variety. The neighbor-joining tree showed specimens from the same site clustering together with moderate to high bootstrap supports. These SSR markers may be used for geographic origin determination of coffee varieties.