The largest nursery in the Central Highlands, preserving nearly 1,000 coffee varieties

For decades, scientists have been tinkering in the laboratory to create the largest coffee nursery in the Central Highlands...

WASI Institute staff harvest coffee varieties - Photo: THE THE

With an area of ​​nearly 150 hectares, the experimental garden of the Western Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science Institute (WASI) in Hoa Thang commune, Buon Ma Thuot city ( Dak Lak ) has become the largest coffee nursery in the Central Highlands, preserving nearly 1,000 coffee varieties.

Decades of coffee breeding

In the last days of the year, the work of researchers and workers at the experimental garden of the WASI Institute (in Hoa Thang commune, Buon Ma Thuot city) is still busy. New and cherished ideas are still being implemented with the desire to bring the best coffee varieties to farmers. According to experts, to produce quality coffee varieties is a research project that takes decades. Previous coffee varieties with small beans, poor drought resistance, and susceptible to pests and diseases... have now been replaced by high-yielding varieties with large fruits after hundreds of experiments.

WASI staff separate coffee plant samples for cultivation - Photo: THE THE

Ms. Dinh Thi Tieu Oanh - Head of the Industrial Crops Department of WASI Institute - said that with Robusta coffee trees having the characteristic of cross-pollination, farmers' gardens often grow different varieties from many times. Therefore, for some farmers, trees with large fruits will often be chosen as seeds. "However, when bees collect nectar from coffee flowers, they can pollinate many trees, making it difficult to determine the father tree. If the mother tree has large fruits, it is not certain that the offspring will have large fruits when used as seeds," Ms. Oanh analyzed. To solve the above problem, experts have to go everywhere to find the parent trees with many dominant factors. These trees must be able to adapt to climate change, withstand drought, and be the best at resisting pests and diseases among millions of trees. The experts will bring them back to pre-select, compare, and test to find the best offspring. "Once suitable seedlings are found, experts will propagate them asexually (grafting, tissue culture, etc.) to preserve the advantages of the mother plant. Selected plants will pollinate with each other to produce quality seeds to serve production needs," Ms. Oanh added.

WASI staff separate coffee plant samples for cultivation - Photo: THE THE

As for Arabica coffee, Ms. Oanh said that the characteristic is self-pollination, experts also look for quality parent trees for sexual reproduction (seeding, sowing) and also asexual reproduction. Currently, Arabica coffee is grown in Duc Trong, Cau Dat districts ( Lam Dong province) or Krong Nang district (Dak Lak province) because it is suitable for high altitude and cool climate.

It takes 20 years to have good breed

According to Ms. Oanh, to have a standard variety, it takes 15 to 20 years of research and selection. "Many varieties we are researching but have been completed, waiting to be launched, have higher productivity," Ms. Oanh said. Mr. Tran Vinh - Director of the Central Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology Institute, said that to have quality coffee trees with high productivity, choosing varieties accounts for 30%, the remaining 70% includes care, fertilizer, watering, etc. Mr. Vinh added that the garden is where WASI conducts research, development and transfer of sustainable coffee techniques to farmers. This is also a place to visit, learn and experience the actual stages in the coffee production process from tissue culture, planting, seedling production to the stage of coffee fruiting, harvesting... Mr. Pham Hung Vuong (55 years old, residing in Phu Xuan commune, Krong Nang district, Dak Lak) said that in 2020, his family's coffee garden was old and had to be replanted, so he had a headache in choosing varieties. After researching and being introduced, he went to the WASI Institute to buy good varieties. "I went there to research and buy varieties from the WASI Institute to replant 2 hectares of coffee. Buying quality varieties is an important step, so you should be careful when choosing," Mr. Vuong commented.

After being grafted in the laboratory, the coffee is taken to experimental gardens for planting and monitoring. Each garden where the varieties are selected is equipped with a variety classification sign - Photo: MINH PHUONG

Mr. Vu Duc Con - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak - said: "If you choose an unqualified variety, it will not only be a waste of money but also take a long time to care for without bringing about results, especially for long-term industrial crops such as coffee. The fact that scientists have to research for decades to have good varieties and transfer them to localities and to the people is a necessary condition for the quality of Dak Lak coffee in particular and Vietnam in general," said Mr. Con.

Currently, WASI is storing thousands of varieties, being the largest seed bank in the Central Highlands with the best coffee varieties on the market such as TR4, TR9, TR11, TR12, multi-line hybrid coffee TRS1, annually supplying nearly 10 tons of seeds and about 1.5 million seedlings to farmers./.

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