In this review of coffee leaf rust (CLR) in Brazil, we report: (i) the historical introduction of CLR in Brazil and the first control measures; (ii) favorable environmental conditions and times of year for the disease; (iii) breeding methods and strategies used for developing CLR-resistant cultivars; (iv) the levels, sources, and types of CLR resistance; (v) the development of Brazilian resistant cultivars; and (vi) chemical and cultural control methods. Most plantations are cultivated with susceptible cultivars, such as those of the Catuaí and Mundo Novo groups. Brazilian research institutes have developed dozens of cultivars with different levels of resistance, and significantly increased the planting of new resistant cultivars. The main sources of CLR resistance are genotypes from Híbrido de Timor, Icatu, BA series carrying the SH3 gene, and Ethiopian wild coffees. High CLR resistance is still observed in Sarchimor and SH3-carrying genotypes. Intermediate CLR resistance is observed in Ethiopian wild coffees and in Sarchimor and Icatu derivatives, where qualitative resistance has been supplanted by races of Hemileia vastatrix. Contact, mesostemic, and systemic fungicides are used for chemical control in Brazil. CLR incidence in Brazil begins to increase after the rainy season onset in November, reaches a peak in June, and remains high until August. Thus, chemical control is typically applied from December to April.

Lipids, including the diterpenes cafestol and kahweol, are key compounds that contribute to the quality of coffee beverages. We determined total lipid content and cafestol and kahweol concentrations in green beans and genotyped 107 Coffea arabica accessions, including wild genotypes from the historical FAO collection from Ethiopia. A genome-wide association study was performed to identify genomic regions associated with lipid, cafestol and kahweol contents and cafestol/kahweol ratio. Using the diploid Coffea canephora genome as a reference, we identified 6,696 SNPs. Population structure analyses suggested the presence of two to three groups (K = 2 and K = 3) corresponding to the east and west sides of the Great Rift Valley and an additional group formed by wild accessions collected in western forests. We identified 5 SNPs associated with lipid content, 4 with cafestol, 3 with kahweol and 9 with cafestol/kahweol ratio. Most of these SNPs are located inside or near candidate genes related to metabolic pathways of these chemical compounds in coffee beans. In addition, three trait-associated SNPs showed evidence of directional selection among cultivated and wild coffee accessions. Our results also confirm a great allelic richness in wild accessions from Ethiopia, especially in accessions originating from forests in the west side of the Great Rift Valley.

ARTICLES-Resistance to bacterial blight in arabica coffee cultivars

‘IPR 100’ was derived from a crossing between “Catuaí” and a hybrid (“Catuaí” x BA-10 coffee). ‘IPR 100’ is a medium size dwarf cultivar with high rusticity, with late ripening cycle, and with resistance to Meloidogyne paranaensis and to some M. incognita populations.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the coffee germplasm of the Paraná Agronomic Institute (IAPAR) for resistance to the coffee-berry-borer. Preliminary field evaluation was performed in August 2004 and the fruits of less damaged genotypes in the field were evaluated under controlled condition with obligated and free choice experiments established in a randomized complete design with three replications. The genotypes were evaluated fifteen days after infestation with one borer per fruit in Petri dishes. The data were analyzed by the Scott-Knott means test at 1 % and by the χ2 test. Statistical analysis indicated that Coffea kapakata, Psilanthus bengalensis, C. eugenioides and genotypes with C. eugenioides genes were resistant. These genotypes presented low frequency of bored grains. C. eugenioides and C. kapakata could present resistance at epicarp level but not in the grain. P. bengalensis could present resistance also in the grains.