Inheritance of Resistance to Bacterial Halo Blight and Bacterial Leaf Spot in Arabica Coffee.

Developing coffee cultivars resistant to multiple diseases by combining resistance genes is a top priority in breeding programs. To create cultivars resistant to diseases and nematodes, we transferred genes for resistance to bacterial infections caused by Pseudomonas coronafaciens pv. garcae, which causes bacterial halo blight (BHB), and P. amygdali pv. tabaci, which causes bacterial leaf spots (BLS), into Arabica coffee. Genetic analyses were conducted on breeding populations to estimate the number and function of genes that confer resistance to BHB and BLS. In total, 2,109 plants in the F2 generation and reciprocal backcrosses were inoculated with P. coronafaciens pv. garcae, while 1,996 plants were inoculated with P. amygdali pv. tabaci. Results showed that resistance to both pathogens had a heritability of 0.99, and the segregations of resistance indicated that each disease was controlled by a single dominant gene. The analyses also revealed that the resistance genes for BHB and BLS were linked, with an average distance of 10.75 cM between them on the same chromosome.

Chemical and sensory characteristics in the selection of bourbon genotypes

The evaluation of coffee quality in Brazil for commercialization is conducted mainly through sensory analysis, also known as the "cup test", in which professional tasters evaluate and score various attributes. The adoption of chemical methods could complement the sensory classification of beverages, if correlations between these chemical and sensory analyses exist, making classification less subjective. This work aimed to identify the relationships between the chemical and sensorial traits of coffee-beverage quality and to evaluate the use of these traits as criteria for the selection of Bourbon cultivars. Twenty coffee genotypes from the first three harvests across five municipalities of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil were evaluated. The genotypic values, predicted for each genotype, were used to determine the index based on the sum of ranks from Mulamba and Mock. The genetic correlations among the evaluated traits were also estimated. The presented evaluations were not able to efficiently detect genetic and phenotypic relationships between the chemical and sensorial characteristics of drink quality, but as selection criteria for generation advancement in the beverage quality, it is possible to use these characteristics. Bourbon Amarelo LCJ 9-IAC, Bourbon Amarelo-Procafé, Bourbon Amarelo-Boa Vista, Bourbon Vermelho-São João Batista, and Bourbon Amarelo-Samambaia were the genotypes with the most promising cup quality in the studied regions. Through the selection of these five genotypes, the selection gain was 1.65% for sensory score for beverage quality, when the interaction among the studied environments was removed. The heritability was 92% for improving this trait.

Can the leaf age influence the susceptibility to bacterial-leaf-spot and bacterial-halo-blight on coffee seedlings? / A idade das folhas pode influenciar na suscetibilidade de cafeeiros à macha-foliar-bacteriana e à mancha-aureolada?

Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, 1902, causes yield losses in innumerous economic important crops. On coffee trees, P. syringae pv. garcae causes the bacterial-halo-blight (BHB) and P. syringae pv. tabaci the bacterial-leaf-spot (BLS). Recently, these diseases incidence has increase in occurrence areas and aggressiveness in Brazil. Although leaf age plays a role in the severity response of BHB, it is not known yet if this phenomenon also occurs in coffee-BLS interaction, and with highly virulent strains. So, we examined differences in the diseases severity by inoculation of P. syringae pv. garcae and P. syringae pv. tabaci strains on coffee leaves with different ages, to compare this aspect with coffee-BLS interaction. Our results showed that, for both pathovars, the severity was greater at the first internodes leaves, although for the most aggressive strains it was quite similar on any leaf age.(AU)

Bactérias da espécie Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, 1902, causam perdas na produção em inúmeras culturas de importância econômica. Em cafeeiros, P. syringae pv. garcae provoca a mancha-aureolada e P. syringae pv. tabaci ocasiona a mancha-foliar-bacteriana, doenças cuja ocorrência e agressividade têm aumentado nos últimos anos no Brasil. Embora a idade das folhas influencie na expressão da severidade de mancha-aureolada, não se sabe ainda se essa influência se mantém em plantas infectadas por estirpes altamente virulentas da bactéria. Desse modo, o presente estudo foi realizado com a finalidade de examinar diferenças na severidade de mancha-aureolada em folhas de cafeeiro com diferentes idades, bem como estudar comparativamente tais aspectos na interação entre cafeeiro e mancha-foliar-bacteriana, empregando-se isolados altamente virulentos. Os resultados evidenciaram que, assim como a mancha-aureolada, a severidade da mancha-bacteriana também é maior em folhas jovens do primeiro internódio, entretanto, as estirpes mais agressivas de P. syringae pv. garcae e P. syringae pv. tabaci provocaram danos de magnitude semelhantes em folhas de diferentes idades, do primeiro ao quinto internódio.(AU)