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https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-018-0271-8
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Abstract
Coffea arabica is native to the Afromontane forests of southwestern Ethiopia, the leading African country in Arabica coffee production.
The intensity of coffee leaf rust (CLR), a fungal disease of growing concern to coffee farmers, was assessed in eight coffee berry
disease-resistant C. arabica varieties planted at three different altitudes. Disease variables assessed were CLR prevalence (percent of
infected plants), incidence (percent rusted leaves) and severity (percent leaf area affected) at four times within a year (Nov, Jan, Apr and
Jun). The intensity of CLR epidemics was highest at the lowland and lowest at the highland location. We hypothesize that inoculum
may be limited by cooling conditions that negatively affects fungal sporulation. CLR intensity was highest at harvest time (Nov) and
decreased during the following dry season, reaching zero values in Apr and Jun. All coffee varieties were similarly susceptible to CLR.
Our data suggest that more efforts should be employed by breeders to develop CLR-resistant coffee varieties, and that shifting
cultivation from lower to higher altitudes may contribute to achieve to higher yields due to lower impact of CLR epidemics.
harvesting in the dry season but primary crop losses during Belachew et al. 2015). These CBD-resistant varieties were
initial infection are generally low. Secondary crop losses as a identified through long-term observational and experimental
result of decreased plant fitness following previous infections research during the 1970s and 1980s (Van der Graaff 1981).
tend to be more substantial (Talhinhas et al. 2017). Although several CBD resistant C. arabica variaties from East
CLR was first reported in Ethiopia in 1934 (Sylvain 1958). Africa (such as Ruiru 11 or Batian in Kenya) are known to
The current prevalence of CLR in Ethiopia was estimated in also express some level of resistance to CLR (Gichimu 2015),
27% at Mechara (Hararghe) in the eastern part of the country, the susceptibility of CBD resistant C. arabica varieties to
and from 33% to 96% in the montane rainforests of SW CLR is not known for the Ethiopian varieties. Given the high
Ethiopia (Zeru et al. 2012). Furthermore, the prevalence of prevalence of CBD in SW-Ethiopia, almost all newly planted
CLR is currently increasing in Ethiopia; percentage of infect- coffee is CBD resistant (Getu et al. 2017). Hence, it is critical
ed trees increased from 12.9% in 2000 year to 36.0% in 2010 to assesses and compare their susceptibility related to CLR
(Zeru et al. 2012). The growing CLR incidence has been as- before starting new plantations. Also, identifying the optimal
sociated with a changing climate, especially increased temper- time of assessment for CLR infection is important for its man-
atures and annual rainfall, earlier rain in the season and sun- agement strategy. The objective of this study was to monitor
shine duration reduction, which favor the life cycle of and compare CLR epidemics in eight CBD-resistant
H. vastatrix (Avelino et al. 2015). An early onset of the rainy C. arabica varieties planted at three locations (altitudes)
season favors early development of the disease, as reported for throughout one annual seasonal cycle in SW Ethiopia. Both
CLR epidemics in Nicaragua (Avelino et al. 2015). A reduc- single and interaction effects were of interest.
tion in the daily thermal amplitude during the rainy season
onset further shortens the CLR latent period (Avelino et al.
2015; Boudrot et al. 2016). In the Americas, CLR prevalence Material and methods
is strongly linked to rainfall, with severe outbreaks of CLR
occurring during the two annual rainy seasons (Boudrot et al. Study area and experimental setting
2016; Vandermeer et al. 2017). After each rainy season, CLR
strongly declines and the coffee shrubs shed infected leaves Our study was conducted at three sites in the Mana district,
(Vandermeer et al. 2017). Jimma Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southwestern Ethiopia
Detailed information on the seasonality of CLR in (Table 1 and Fig.1). The average annual rainfall, mean daily
Afromontane forests at different altitudes has not yet been minimum temperature, and maximum temperature are
documented for SW-Ethiopia. In Rwanda, CLR was reported 1523 mm, 13 °C and 24.8 °C, respectively (Bote and Jan
to decrease with altitude; CLR severity (percent leaf area dam- 2017). Mana is one of the major coffee producing districts in
aged) decreased by 1.5% per 100 m increase in altitude, when the Jimma zone with a total cultivated area of 48,000 ha of
limited between 1400 and 1800 m of altitude (Bigirimana which 23% is in lowland areas, 65% in midland, and the
et al. 2012). The increasing altitude would be a surrogate for remaining 12% in highlands (Bote and Jan 2017). There are
lowering temperature, negatively affecting sporulation, thus two seasons in Ethiopia (the dry and the rainy season). The
reducing inoculum levels (Bigirimana et al. 2012). Whether onset of the dry season is in September and the onset of the
the same pattern occurs in SW Ethiopia is not entirely known, rainy season is in June. In June 2012, eight different CBD
but data from Bonga, Berhane-Kontir,Yayu and Harenna areas resistant C. arabica varieties which are the most commonly
in Ethiopia corroborates this hypothesis (Jefuka et al. 2010; used in the region (74–1, 75–227, 74–54, 74–112, 74–140,
Zeru et al. 2012). 74–158, 74–165 and 74–148) (Table 2) were planted at three
The most commonly used C. arabica varieties in Ethiopia different sites with different altitudes: Degelu (Low: 1450 m),
exhibit resistance to CBD, as other means to control the dis- Gembe (Middle: 1610 m) and Buture (High: 2063 m)
ease are scarce (Belachew et al. 2015; Van der Graaff 1981). (Table 1, Fig.1). The study was conducted in semi-plantation
Out of the 40 C. arabica varieties used in Ethiopia, 13 are coffee systems where the coffee management practices were
CBD-resistant (G. Bekele Personal communication; uniform. Agronomic practices such as weeding, slashing,
Location Altitude Altitude (m.a.s.l.) Longitude Latitude T max (°C) T min (°C) T mean (°C) Humidity (%)
Fig. 1 Map of the study sites in the Mana district, Southwestern Ethiopia
pruning and planting distance were identical. Addition of fer- Disease assessments
tilizer in the coffee farms is not practiced and they were not
applied to the experimental sites in all the three locations. The Three disease variables: CLR prevalence, incidence and se-
dominant shade tree species in all the three locations were verity (Jefuka et al. 2010) were assessed four times during the
Cordia Africana, Acacia abyssinica, Albizza grandibtateata seasons: Nov 2015, Jan 2016, Apr 2016 and Jul 2016 on five
and Vernonia amygdalina. The shade level in all the three coffee plants selected at random in each plot. CLR prevalence
locations was uniform. At each altitude, a randomized com- was operationally defined as the percentage of plants affected
plete block design was established, with three blocks per lo- by CLR per plot. For assessing incidence, six branches, one
cation. Each block consisted of 8 plots (10 × 10 m each), to- pair in the upper, middle and lower canopy layer, were then
taling 24 plots per location (Fig. 2). Each variety was random- selected and marked and the percentage of diseased leaves per
ly assigned to the plots, with each plot composed of 25 plants branch was recorded. CLR severity refers to the percent leaf
of the same variety spaced at 2-m from each other (Fig. 2). area affected, which was estimated with the aid of a diagram-
matic scale with five severity levels: 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10%
(Kushalappa and Chaves 1980). Both incidence and severity
estimates were averaged across branches to obtain one value
Table 2 Coffee berry disease resistant Coffea arabica varieties used in
this study, including typical grain yield and growth habit per shrub. All measures were then expressed (averaged) at the
plot level.
Variety Grain yield (kg ha−1) Habit
74–1 1200 600–700 Open The effects of C. arabica varieties, altitude and assessment time
75–227 1700 800–900 Open on the disease were assessed by fitting generalized linear mixed
74–54 1800 800–900 Intermediate effects models (GLMM) with maximum likelihood estimation
74–112 1800 900–1000 Compact to data from each experimental site. For ratio variables such as
74–140 1900 900–1000 Compact proportions/percentages that are constrained between 0 and 1, a
74–148 1800 600–700 Compact beta rather than a normal distribution was used, by setting a
74–158 1900 900–1000 Compact logit link function. Because proportional boundaries 0 and 1
74–165 1700 800–900 Compact are not allowed in a beta distribution, the original responses
(Y) were transformed using Y′ = (Y x (N-1) + 0.5) / N, where
Trop. plant pathol.
Fig. 2 Experimental set-up. Eight C. arabica varieties are replicated three times at each location (lowland, midland and highland). Twenty-four plots at
each location, each plot having a 10x10m size. Numbers indicate the C.arabica variety ID
N is the sample size (Cribari-Neto and Zeileis 2009). Measures location x time interaction for all disease measures showed
assessed in the same individuals at different times lack indepen- significant reduction in disease only for lowland and midland
dence. A plot ID variable, since the same plot was assessed locations, especially CLR prevalence (lowland z = 12.38,
through time, was included as a random intercept in each P < 0.001; midland z = 7.80, P < 0.001) and incidence (low-
GLMM. Block ID was furthermore included as a second ran- land z = 11.76, P < 0.001; midland z = 4.56, P < 0.001), and
dom intercept. Altitude (lowland, midland or highland), only for lowland locations for CLR severity (z = 9.21, P <
C. arabica variety and time of evaluation and their first order 0.001) (Table 4, Fig. 3a, b, c).
interactions were included as fixed factors. Final models were The differences in disease intensity among the three loca-
obtained after stepwise model reduction, based on Akaike’s tions in November were reduced in January, with only signif-
information criteria (AIC). All models were fitted using the icant differences between highland and midland (z = −3.70,
glmmTMB packag (Magnusson et al. 2017) under R 3.3.3 sta- p < 0.001); between highland and lowland (z = −2.37, P =
tistical environment (R Development Core Team, 2017). 0.046) for CLR prevalence (Table 4 and Fig. 3c); between
Pairwise comparisons between factor levels were based on highland and midland (z = −2.58, P = 0.027) for CLR inci-
Tukey test at 5% significance. Note that due to the nested block dence (Table 4, Fig. 3b); and between highland and midland
design of the experiment, collinearity problems across the fixed (z = −2.63, P = 0.024) for CLR severity (Table 4, Fig. 3b).
factors did not occur. Neither the main effect of coffee variety, nor the interaction
between coffee variety and location significantly affected any
of the disease measures (Fig. 4a, b, c). Note that because of
Results this non-significance (P < 0.05), these factors were removed
from the final GLMM models presented in Table 3, following
The mixed models results showed that coffee varieties did not the stepwise model reduction.
affect CRL epidemics, while time, location and their interac-
tion effects did affect (P < 0.0001) all CLR variables (Table 3).
On average, CLR tended to decrease during the dry season Discussion
(January) following harvest (Table 3, Fig. 3), reaching zero
values in April and July (data not shown). Disease intensity Our findings contribute new knowledge to CLR epidemics in
was highest at the lowland locations and lowest for highland SW Africa. We corroborate previous reports of the effect of
locations during November (Fig. 3). However, the significant altitude shaping CLR development on Arabica coffee and
Table 3 Parameter estimates of the generalized linear mixed effect models (GLMM) on the coffee leaf rust (CLR) infection measures. Beta
coefficients, marginal means (MM) and test statistics of contrast predictor = 0 (z) given for each retained predictor after model reduction (N = 144)
Location Highland −3.59 0.028 7.29*** −3.84 0.022 5.73*** −2.10 0.11 16.51***
Midland −1.89 0.086 23.28*** −2.79 0.052 14.39*** −0.87 0.47 36.48***
Lowland −0.57 0.13 27.96*** −0.98 0.092 16.95*** 2.85 0.66 36.12***
Time November −3.59 0.12 28.9*** −3.84 0.074 20.30*** −2.10 0.63 45.34***
January −3.51 0.041 12.96*** −3.77 0.030 8.79*** −2.15 0.17 25.94***
Location*Time Highland:Nov −3.59 0.027 5.88*** −3.84 0.021 4.66*** −2.10 0.11 13.09***
Highland:Jan −3.51 0.029 6.33*** −3.77 0.023 5.03*** −2.15 0.10 12.48***
Midland:Nov −1.89 0.13 23.66*** −2.79 0.058 12.23*** −0.87 0.70 32.23***
Midland:Jan −4.52 0.056 12.70*** −4.09 0.046 10.50*** −4.10 0.25 20.64***
Lowland:Nov −0.57 0.36 46.88*** −0.98 0.27 36.01*** 2.85 0.95 29.37***
Lowland:Jan −6.17 0.041 9.17*** −6.47 0.027 4.97*** −6.43 0.18 17.72***
*
0.05 ≥ P > 0.01; ** 0.01 ≥ P > 0.001; *** 0.001 ≥ P
Trop. plant pathol.
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