The microflora of coffee surfaces and relationships to coffee berry disease

Abstract

Data from previous trials that have been re-evaluated indicate that low levels of coffee berry disease on unsprayed coffee are associated with higher populations of microflora on coffee tissues. Samples were taken at different seasons and altitudes, and from coffee plots receiving different fungicide treatments for the control of coffee berry disease. Although largest populations occurred at the highest altitudes, the relative proportions of microflora components varied with altitude. Fungicides reduced populations of filamentous fungi on all tissues. Trees that had never received fungicide had low populations of Colletotrichum kahawae and had very low levels of coffee berry disease. The disease was also at a lower level on trees that had not been sprayed with fungicides for two seasons where microflora populations were highest. The likely effects of microflora components on coffee berry disease and their potential as biological control agents are discussed.

Characterization ofColletotrichum kahawaeIsolates Causing Coffee Berry Disease in Angola

“…Colletotrichum kahawae clusters within the diversity of the species complex C. gloeosporioides (Sreenivasaprasad et al 1993). Both species co‐exist in the coffee plant ecosystem, along with C. acutatum (Waller and Masaba 2006). However, C. kahawae can be distinguished by its ability to infect green coffee berries, causing CBD (Waller et al 1993).…”

Coffee Microbiota and Its Potential Use in Sustainable Crop Management. A Review

“…Despite the fact that the episphere represents a source of plant beneficial microorganisms and bioactive compounds (Vandenkoornhuyse et al, 2015;Newman and Cragg, 2020), it is the least studied compartment of the indigenous coffee microbiota with only 19 articles ( Table 3). All the reviewed studies used a culture-dependent approach to isolate the microorganisms at the surface of several coffee tissues, mainly from leaves (Vélez and Rosillo, 1995;Haddad et al, 2014) and cherries (Agate and Bhat, 1966;Compri et al, 2016), but also from roots (Velmourougane et al, 2000;Teshome et al, 2017) and stems (Velmourougane et al, 2000;Waller and Masaba, 2006). Two metabarcoding studies could have pictures the epiphytic communities at the surface of coffee leaves and cherries; however, the authors extracted DNA from the crushed organs making impossible to discriminate epiphytes from endophytes (James et al, 2016;Veloso et al, 2020) Table 1).…”

First Report of Black Dot Root Rot, Caused by Colletotrichum coccodes, on Tomato in Kentucky High Tunnels

“…Despite its importance, coffee production has often been limited by a disease known as coffee berry disease. It is the major factor limiting Arabica coffee production in Kenya and other countries in Eastern Africa, especially at high altitudes (Van der Vossen et al, 1976;Firman and Waller, 1977;Van der Graff, 1992;Masaba and Waller, 1992;Waller and Masaba, 2006) where it may cause crop losses of 50 to 80% ( Van der Vossen et al, 1976). Coffee berry disease is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum kahawae (Waller et al, 1993).…”