Disease is a big problem for coffee breeders, in the 'principals and practice of coffee breeding for resistance to rust and other diseases' section the resistance of coffee species to orange rust is discussed, and the impact of breeding for orange rust resistance analysed.

Row of coffee trees
Photograph by Dave Townsend.

Coffee Tree Pests

One of the major pests of coffee is the leaf miner; this pests accounts for an average loss in yield of coffee of 40% in some parts of Brazil. Information is given from a recent research paper about its life cycle and possible control.

Leaf Miner Damage
Although this is not a coffee tree leaf it demonstrates the type of damage that a leaf miner can do to a plant: Source of Photograph.

Coffee Biotechnology

Coffee biotechnology has important impacts upon the general public, the cell culture technology and agronomic, processing and consumer benefits are discussed, as is the use of coffee oil as a fuel. We also take a historical look at Arabusta and other interspecific fertile hybrids. This includes its first beneficiaries in Indonesia, its reemergence in Brazil, and details of the Arabusta hybrids in Africa and India.

A look is also took at the methods involved in Arabusta development and the characteristics of Arabusta. Finally we take a look into some of the important constituents of coffee biosynthesis. This includes information on purine bases and Phenolic acids. All of these sections can be assessed from the agronomy section in the left hand navigation bar.