General Characteristics
Ruiru 11 is a compact, high-yielding coffee variety developed in Kenya, designed for intensive cultivation and to reduce losses from diseases and pests. It owes its name to the research station in Ruiru, where it was created.
Origin and Breeding Goal
Ruiru 11 was developed in response to the Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) epidemic, which in 1968 led to a loss of 50% of Kenya's coffee production. This crisis spurred researchers to action. In the 1970s, an intensive breeding program was initiated to create a CBD-resistant variety.
Ruiru 11 was officially introduced in 1985. The main goal of the breeders was to combine compact growth, enabling dense planting, with the high cup quality typical of tall African varieties.
Pedigree and Selection
The creation of Ruiru 11 involved crossing multiple parent varieties to create a so-called complex hybrid, combining the best traits of individual ancestors.
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Male parent (tall growth):
CBD resistance: Rume Sudan, Timor Hybrid lines, K7
High cup quality: N39, SL28, SL34, Bourbon
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Female parent (compact growth):
Provides a small plant size and additional resistance to CBD and coffee leaf rust
Selected Catimor lines (Caturra × Timor Hybrid), including Catimor 129
The final cross between the tall male parent and the compact female parent resulted in the Ruiru 11 variety, combining small size, disease resistance, and high yield.
Propagation and Distribution
Ruiru 11 is propagated through controlled manual pollination: mother plants are pollinated with pollen from paternal lines, leading to the creation of the first generation of hybrids (F1). The resulting seeds contain diverse but genetically consistent siblings – a so-called composite variety, which is then distributed to farmers.
Challenges
Because the production of Ruiru 11 seeds requires manual pollination, it is difficult to meet market demand for this variety. Nevertheless, Ruiru 11 remains one of Kenya's most important commercial varieties due to its cultivation advantages and disease resistance.
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