Genetic improvement of Arabica coffee aimed at developing decaffeinated clonal cultivars for the State of São Paulo, Brazil

• Grant number: 20/07042-4
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2020
• End date: April 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Júlio César Mistro
• Grantee: Júlio César Mistro
• Host Institution: Instituto Agronômico (IAC). Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Julieta Andrea Silva de Almeida ; Maria Bernadete Silvarolla

Abstract

Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) beans contain approximately 1.2% of caffeine, an alkaloid whose main physiological effect in humans is the stimulation of the central nervous system. For those who like coffee and are caffeine intolerant, the main option available on the Brazilian market is industrially decaffeinated coffee, produced using chemical solvents. According to the ANVISA norms, to be considered decaffeinated coffee beans can only contain up to 0.10% caffeine. Genetic improvement is a relevant alternative to make genetically decaffeinated coffee available. In 2004, artificial hybridizations were carried out at the Agronomic Institute in Campinas - IAC - between Ethiopian plants taken from the germplasm bank, with 0.10% of caffeine, and elite cultivars with normal contents of this alkaloid, giving origin to F1 generation individuals. In the F2 generation, where segregation occurs for the caffeine content, individual plants with 0.10 to 0.30% caffeine were selected. From this selection, an experiment denominated as EPD (Decaffeinated progeny experiment) was installed under drought conditions in 2015, with 35 treatments of which 31 were F3 progenies and four were controls, making four repetitions and using five plants per treatment. Since coffee is a perennial culture with a long cycle, a new culture could take up to 50 years to develop, since five to six years are required per generation. However, this period can be reduced by up to 35 years using cloning by somatic embryogenesis of the superior individuals in any of the segregated generations, obtaining genetically homogeneous plants. In this project, individuals with caffeine contents up to 0.10% and commercially acceptable productivities will be selected for cloning. For this end, statistical analyses will be carried out by the REML/BLUP procedure considering mixed linear models, using data evaluated in 2017 and 2018 and that to be obtained in 2020. Using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) approximately 50% of the EPD plants were dosed for the caffeine contents of the bean endosperms. In addition to the agronomic and chemical characteristics, the project will investigate the sensory quality of the decaffeinated and productive materials, since one of the parents is Ethiopian, whose beverage is recognized as differentiated, which could add greater economic value to this technology. Thus the objectives of this project are: i) select and clone, by somatic embryogenesis, individuals of the F3 generation of Arabic coffee with beans containing up to 0.1% of caffeine, with good agronomic, technological and, if possible, sensory characteristics; ii) install regional experiments to validate the clonal materials and subsequently make a new clonal cultivar of arabica coffee available to coffee growers in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, whose main characteristic is that of being genetically decaffeinated. (AU)