Abstract
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.
Highlights
Arabica coffee was introduced in Brazil in 1727 and soon became an important agricultural product intimately linked to the country’s history and economic development
After the arrival of rust in the 1970s, other institutions responsible for technological development and coffee research in Brazil initiated genetic breeding programs aimed at developing new cultivars with resistance to the disease, namely Epamig (Agricultural Research Company of Minas Gerais)/UFV (Federal University of Viçosa)/UFLA (Federal University of Lavras), the Procafé Foundation, IDR-Paraná (Institute of Rural Development of Paraná, exIapar), and Embrapa Café, all of which were supported by the Research Café Consortium, coordinated by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Café)
This resistance level is observed in the cultivars Icatu Amarelo IAC 2944 and Azulão, and in some cultivar derivatives from Sarchimor and Catuaí × Híbrido de Timor (HdT), when coffee leaf rust (CLR) break the vertical resistance of SH genes
Summary
Arabica coffee was introduced in Brazil in 1727 and soon became an important agricultural product intimately linked to the country’s history and economic development This agribusiness was shaken in January 1970 by the first observation of coffee leaf rust (CLR) in Brazil, in the south of Bahia, identified by the Brazilian researcher Arnaldo Gomes Medeiros [1]. The new crops incorporated major technological improvements, developed and adapted by research, and were made available to producers through regional technical assistance, with emphasis on the adoption of zoned areas for new planting, new planting spacing, new cultivars, more rational and technical management, and the introduction of systematic control of coffee pests and diseases within an integrated management program. In Brazil, CLR can causes losses of up 50% in coffee production, depending on the level of resistance of the cultivar, favorable climatic conditions to the disease, and management measures [1], and in other coffee producing countries, such as Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, the coffee yield losses by CLR are quite significant [10,11,12,13]
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