Alcides Carvalho and the selection of Catuaí cultivar: interpreting the past and drawing lessons for the future

Oliveiro Guerreiro Filho,Vinícius Teixeira Andrade,Magno Antônio Patto Ramalho

doi:10.1590/1984-70332018v18n4p69

Oliveiro Guerreiro Filho, Vinícius Teixeira Andrade + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-70332018v18n4p69

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Abstract

Abstract The coffee cultivar Catuai is among the most successful cultivars in Brazilian agriculture; it has been on the market for more than 40 years. It was obtained by Dr. Alcides Carvalho, a researcher of the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (IAC), from the cross between ‘Caturra’ and ‘Mundo Novo’ carried out in 1949 for the purpose of joining plant vigor with small plant size. Our aim was to report the activities that culminated in the recommendation of 16 lines of ‘Catuai’, consisting of eight lines with red fruit and eight with yellow fruit, analyzing the data of several experiments. The decision regarding what to recommend was made in the F1:2 generation, based on two harvests. It became clear that Dr. Alcides should be taken as an example by all breeders, above all in his persistence, scientific rigor, and belief that farmers can be an important ally of breeders.

Highlights

Coffee was and will continue to be one of the main export products of Brazil
In the title of the study, emphasis was directed to transfer of the caturra allele to ‘Mundo Novo’, which changes the length of the internodes of orthotropic and plagiotropic branches, reducing plant height and plant canopy diameter, respectively
In our analyses we found that the mean of all the progenies derived from the plant H2077-2-5 (F1:2) was 18% less than ‘Mundo Novo Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) 376-4’

Summary

Introduction

Coffee was and will continue to be one of the main export products of Brazil. Brazilian coffee production meets the demand for internal consumption, and Brazil is the second largest consumer of coffee worldwide. Brazilian coffee growing is of enormous socio-economic importance and is the basis of revenue of various municipalities in the main producing regions. The yield of Brazilian coffee fields has increased considerably. Among the main causes are improvement in crop management and, above all, the use of new cultivars. The cultivar Mundo Novo released in 1952 and still grown is 240% higher yielding than the ‘Nacional’ or ‘Típica’ coffee in Brazil (Carvalho 1965)

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