ABSTRACT
Mozambique does not have a tradition of farming Coffea arabica or Coffea canephora, the two species that dominate the worldwide coffee market. However, native coffee plants have been growing spontaneously and in some cases cultivated in the Ibo and Quirimba islands in the north of the country and Inhambane province in the south. Historically there has been confusion over the precise taxonomic classification of these indigenous coffee plants, with different botanists identifying the species as C. racemosa, C. zanguebariae or various synonyms of both. The present research aims to clarify the subject and provide new information on these little-described coffee species which may prove valuable as new breeding material for future cultivars, something that is sorely needed to face the present and future challenges of coffee production. Leaf samples were collected from 40 accessions from Ibo Island, Quirimba Island and Inhambane province. The samples were sequenced by whole-genome technology and WGS reads were filtered to identify relevant SNP variants. Diversity among the samples was assessed by PCA, and a phylogenetic tree including several Coffea species was built using additional data available in public databases. Experimental data confirm the presence of C. zanguebariae as the only coffee species present in both Ibo and Quirimba Islands, while it appears that C. racemosa is exclusive to the southern Inhambane province. The present research provides the most detailed analysis so far on the genetic identity of the traditional Mozambican coffee crops. This is the prerequisite for undertaking further scientific studies on these almost unknown coffee species and for starting agronomic development programs for the economic revival of Ibo and Quirimba islands based on coffee cultivation. Furthermore, these species could provide much-needed genetic material for the breeding of new hybrids with the two main commercial coffee species.
ABSTRACT
The morphoanatomical characteristics of leaves were associated with altitude, hillside, and the cup quality of coffee produced in the Matas de Minas region. Although the small magnitude, there are correlations between cup quality with altitude and morpho-anatomical traits. Despite facing the differences of management inherent to 363 sampling sites, Northwestern hillside had significant lower cup quality, whereas only stomata density (SD) and thickness of the leaf epidermis in the adaxial face (AdET) showed significant differences between hillsides. Altitude, leaf mass per area (LMA) and SD, and to a lesser extent the thickness of the leaf epidermis in the abaxial face (AbET), were correlated (Spearman's correlation) with cup quality. Interestingly, AbET correlations were negative. Mantel's test significant correlations were found between coffee cup quality vs. altitude, LMA and petiole phloem area (PPhA). The spatial autocorrelation was significant only with LMA. Also, SD, to a lesser extent, was associated with cup quality. Despite the complexity of the association among the environment, plant growth and development, this is the first report to associate morpho-anatomical features of the leaf with the coffee cup traits. Even with the expectation of genotype/species vs environment interactions, and the influence of other parameters associated with post-harvest, roasting and brewing, the evaluation of LMA, SD, AdET, AbET and the thickness of the palisade parenchyma (PPT) allow a novel approach to access coffee cup quality.
