Character Association and Path Coefficient Analysis for Yield and its Related Traits in Ethiopian Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Accessions

Abstract

Coffee is the world’s most widely traded tropical agricultural commodity (ICO, 2011), next to oil (Prakash et al., 2002). It accounts for nearly half of the total exports of tropical products (FAO, 2009). In many producing countries, besides contributing a tremendous amount to the foreign exchange currency, it serves as a means of livelihood for millions of people (Steiger et al., 2002). It contributes 25-30 % of the Ethiopian foreign currency earnings ((FDRE MOT, 2012) and supports the livelihood of more than 20 million people in the country (Gole and Senbeta, 2008). However, the productivity is very low as compared to other producing countries.