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Genetic Diversity and Coffee Improvement in India

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Book cover Molecular Breeding for Sustainable Crop Improvement

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development and Biodiversity ((SDEB,volume 11))

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Abstract

Coffee, often referred to as ‘Brown Gold’, is a popular beverage crop produced in more than 80 countries including India, having an annual turnover of ca. US$ 70 billion globally. This economically important plantation crop of tropics and subtropics comprises only two commercial species, Coffea arabica L. and Coffea canephora Pierre ex Froehner (popularly known as arabica and robusta coffee, respectively) although there exists large number of Coffea species worldwide. C. arabica L. is the only allotetraploid species (2n = 4x = 44) in the genus and self-fertile while all other species including C. canephora are diploids (2n = 22) and self-incompatible. Arabica and robusta coffee types differ significantly in terms of phenotype, agronomic behaviour, bean and liquor quality, and breeding behaviour as well as genetic variability in their extant germplasm. Arabicas produce superior quality coffee but are susceptible to major diseases and pests while robustas are more tolerant to the diseases and pests but the bean and the liquor qualities are inferior to arabicas. Therefore, the major focus of coffee improvement in India is on the development of high-yielding hybrids having durable host resistance in arabica and evolving drought-tolerant robusta genotypes to cope with the changing climate, more efficiently. Till date, the Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI), India, has developed 13 improved arabica and three robusta selections for commercial cultivation, by employing conventional breeding approaches and utilizing coffee germplasm that was introduced in the nineteenth century through multiple international expeditions. Occurrence of spontaneous tetraploid inter-specific hybrids between tetraploid arabica and other diploid species has also facilitated arabica coffee improvement through introgressive breeding. More recently, the DNA marker tools and technologies that provide new opportunities to overcome some of the limitations of the conventional breeding strategies are being integrated for more precise characterization of primary as well as secondary gene pools for exploitation in breeding through marker-assisted selection. This chapter highlights the key aspects of Indian coffee sector vis-a-vis world scenario and unique features of Indian coffee cultivation, genetic resources, analysis and exploitation of genetic diversity for crop improvement through conventional breeding.

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Abbreviations

%:

Per cent

AD:

Anno Domini

AFLP:

Amplified fragment length polymorphism

BC:

Backcross

CxR:

Coffea congensis × Robusta (Coffea canephora)

C :

Coffea

CBD:

Coffee berry disease

CCRI:

Central Coffee Research Institute

CIFC:

Centro Investigacao das Ferrugens do Cafeeiro

CLR:

Coffee leaf rust

DMS:

Dimethyl sulphate

DNA:

Deoxyribonucleic acid

Dt.:

District

EST-SSRs:

Expressed sequence tags–simple sequence repeats

etc.:

Etcetera

EMS:

Ethyl methane sulphonate

f-AFLP:

Fluorescent-amplified fragment length polymorphism

F1 :

First filial generation

FAO:

Food and agricultural organization

FAQ:

Fair average quality

Fig:

Figure

GDP:

Gross domestic product

ha:

Hectares

HdT:

Hibrido de Timor

ICO:

International coffee organization

INEAC:

Institut National pour l’Etude Agronomique du Congo Belge

IPR:

Intellectual property rights

ISSR:

Inter-simple sequence repeats

ITS:

Internal transcribed spacer

kg:

Kilogram

m:

Metres

MSL:

Mean sea level

MT:

Metric tonnes

mt-DNA:

Mitochondrial DNA

P.:

Psilanthus

PLS:

Pure line selection

RAPD:

Random-amplified polymorphic DNA

rDNA:

Ribosomal DNA

RFLP:

Restricted fragment length polymorphism

Sln.:

Selection

sp.:

Species

SSR:

Simple sequence repeats

US$:

US dollars

viz.:

Namely

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express deep sense of tribute to all the coffee breeders who contributed immensely for collection, maintenance and exploitation of the coffee genetic resources and varietal improvement in India, starting from erstwhile Mysore Coffee Experimental Station to the present CCRI, facing several difficulties both at personal and at professional levels by working in remote plantation regions. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the administrative support from the authorities of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad, and financial support (project grant: BT/PR/6292/Agr/16/575/2005) from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi, for the project on molecular characterization of coffee germplasm of India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station (P.O), Chikmagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India

    N. Surya Prakash, Jeena Devasia & Y. Raghuramulu

  2. Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), Habsiguda, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500 007, Telangana, India

    Ramesh K. Aggarwal

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  1. N. Surya Prakash
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  2. Jeena Devasia
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  3. Y. Raghuramulu
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  4. Ramesh K. Aggarwal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ramesh K. Aggarwal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Delhi University, Delhi, India

    Vijay Rani Rajpal

  2. Dept. of Biotech and Bioinformatics, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Megalaya, India

    S. Rama Rao

  3. Amity University of Biotechnology, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    S.N. Raina

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Surya Prakash, N., Devasia, J., Raghuramulu, Y., Aggarwal, R.K. (2016). Genetic Diversity and Coffee Improvement in India. In: Rajpal, V., Rao, S., Raina, S. (eds) Molecular Breeding for Sustainable Crop Improvement. Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27090-6_11

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