No abstract

The economics of coffee plantations is intrinsically linked to pruning, which can improve the canopy architecture and thereby increase productivity. However, recommended pruning times on conilon coffee plantations have been made on an entirely empirical basis. In this study, by evaluating growth, photosynthetic gas exchanges, starch accumulation and crop productivity, the effects of pruning at different times between harvest and flowering were investigated for six conilon coffee clones with distinct stages of fruit maturation (early, intermediate and late). Clones with an early maturation stage were pruned at four different times: 0, 30, 60 and 90 days after harvest (DAH). Intermediate clones were pruned at 0, 30 and 60 DAH, and late clones were pruned at 0 and 30 DAH. Overall, the rates of shoot growth and net photosynthesis, the stomatal conductance and the crop yield were not affected by the pruning treatments in any of the clones. In addition, pruning times did not affect the concentrations of starch or the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II. The carbon isotope composition ratio was marginally affected by the treatments. These results suggest that the pruning time after harvests is relatively unimportant and pruning operations can be scheduled to optimise the use of labour, which directly impacts the production costs of coffee. I N T RO D U C T I O NAfter oil products, coffee is the second most commonly traded commodity worldwide. On a broader scale, when all steps from cultivation to the sale of final consumable products are considered, the international coffee trade involves approximately 500 million people (DaMatta et al., 2010). Of the approximately 100 species of the genus Coffea (Davis et al., 2006), only C. arabica L. (arabica coffee) and C. canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner (robusta coffee) are economically important worldwide; these two species are responsible for 99% of world bean production. Currently, arabica

The state of Espírito Santo is the major producer of Coffea canephora in Brazil. Knowledge of genetic reserves is fundamental to plant breeding. Therefore, the present study characterized and analyzed the genetic diversity of 600 C. canephora accessions from the germplasm bank of Incaper based on 38 traits evaluated in 24-30-month-old plants. Further, the predominant descriptors or traits were identified, and high phenotypic variability was determined. Genetic distances for the grouped (Gower), quantitative, and qualitative datasets were 0.48, 0.61, and 0.92, respectively, with accessions 76 (Conilon) and 407 (Robusta) being the most divergent ones at Incaper. In clustering using the Tocher optimization method, 30 groups were formed, with three accessions introduced from Epamig's Robusta collection being the most dissimilar ones. Graphical dispersion analysis using the principal coordinate method revealed the predominance of three groups formed by the Robusta, Conilon, and hybrid Robusta × Conilon genotypes.

In search to maintain the coffee quality, the period of time for which the coffee is kept in the plantation after harvest (waiting transportation for the processing site) is one of the several factors that deserves scientific attention. This experiment aimed to identify and quantify losses of beverage quality suffered by Conilon coffee due to the time being kept in the field after harvesting, as an attempt to determine if the permanence of the bags in the plantation after harvest is possible before it causes detrimental effects over characteristics of beverage quality. The experiment followed a completely random design, with 8 treatments and 4 repetitions, using standardized bags of mature fruits of Coffea canephora Pierre ex Froehner that were kept in the plantation field for periods of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or 10 days after harvest. Samples from each bag were sent to chemical analyses, and triplicate samples of the processed coffee were sent to three separated sensorial analyses, each one performed by a different laboratory to asset the quality score and traits of the beverage. The results showed that the beverage quality suffers considerable losses due to the time of bags being kept in the field after harvesting. For many quality parameters, the detrimental effects of the permanence at fields start from the very first day, causing reduction of the quality score of the beverage and lowering the classification of the coffee.

To achieve high crop yield in agriculture, the production of plantlets of superior quality is one of the basic prerequisites. For conilon coffee, the current recommendation in the production of clonal plantlets through vegetative propagation is to use diagonal cuttings, in bevel form. However, there are indications that other types of cutting have been successfully used to produce plantlets. In this context, this experiment was conducted with the objective of studying the development of plantlets of conilon coffee obtained by different types of cuttings. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse. The cuttings were obtained from the middle portion of orthotropic stems of standardized plants. The experiment followed a split plot in time design, with three types of cuttings (bevel, sharp bevel and straight) and two times of evaluation, with four repetitions. At 30 and 120 days after planting, plantlets were collected and evaluated. The results show the increase occurred in the variables due to the straight cut when compared to the others, except for stem diameter. Emphasizing in this context, the straight cut promoted an increase in seedling height, production of biomass and in the Dickson's quality index when compared to cuttings in bevel and sharp bevel.

Coffee is a universal beverage that drives a multi‐industry market on a global basis. Today, the sustainability of coffee production is threatened by accelerated climate changes. In this work, we propose the implementation of genomic‐assisted breeding for climate‐smart coffee in Coffea canephora. This species is adapted to higher temperatures and is more resilient to biotic and abiotic stresses. After evaluating two populations, over multiple harvests, and under severe drought weather condition, we dissected the genetic architecture of yield, disease resistance, and quality‐related traits. By integrating genome‐wide association studies and diallel analyses, our contribution is four‐fold: (i) we identified a set of molecular markers with major effects associated with disease resistance and post‐harvest traits, while yield and plant architecture presented a polygenic background; (ii) we demonstrated the relevance of nonadditive gene actions and projected hybrid vigor when genotypes from different geographically botanical groups are crossed; (iii) we computed medium‐to‐large heritability values for most of the traits, representing potential for fast genetic progress; and (iv) we provided a first step toward implementing molecular breeding to accelerate improvements in C. canephora. Altogether, this work is a blueprint for how quantitative genetics and genomics can assist coffee breeding and support the supply chain in the face of the current global changes.

An innovative teaching strategy focused on problem based approach rather than theorical aiming to facilitate the learning of the research methodology in advanced nursing student has been introduced. Through out a qualitative evaluation of the diary kept by the student nurses involved, advantages and disadvantages of this innovative approach have been evaluated. This paper reports a synthesis of the teaching strategy and its impact on the competences in the research methodology as it has been perceived by the students participants.

<p>This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different drying methods (regarding temperature and drying time) over the seed moisture and germination of seeds of <em>Coffea canephora</em>, harvested from genotypes of late maturation. For this end, seeds from selected genotypes were harvested and dried using two different methods: drying at 25 ˚C with natural circulation of air and drying at 35 ˚C with artificial circulation of air. The seeds were evaluated to quantify the loss of moisture content, and their germinative potential was assessed by parameters of germination speed, and the proportion of seedlings with healthy germination originated from them. The results show it is possible to apply different drying methods; using different systems, temperatures and times of exposure; to decrease the moisture content of seeds of <em>C. canephora</em>, from 50% (freshly harvested seeds from genotypes of late maturation, in July) to under 18% (dried seeds). Even if the initial stages of the drying process, while the seeds still present high moisture content, are similar for both methods, the method with artificial circulation of air at 35 ˚C promotes the drying speed and is able to achieve the lower levels of seed moisture using less than half of the time required by method with natural circulation of air at 25 ˚C. This faster moisture removal, however, has negative impacts over the germinative potential of the seeds, which are not observed for seeds subjected to the slow natural drying.</p>