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

Abstract

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, 2109 plants in the F2 generation and reciprocal backcrosses were inoculated with P. coronafaciens pv. garcae, while 1996 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.