Coffee seed physiology

By M. T. Eira, E. A. A. Silva, R. D. Castro, S. Dussert, C. Walters, J. Bewley, H. Hilhorst. 2006

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Considerable advances in our understanding of coffee seed physiology have been made in recent years. However, despite intense research efforts, there are many aspects that remain unclear. This paper gives an overview of the current understanding of the more important features concerning coffee seed physiology, and provides information on recent findings on seed development, germination, storage and longevity.Key words: Coffea, coffee, germination, germplasm, longevity, seed development, storage.Fisiologia da semente do cafeeiro: Avancos consideraveis no entendimento da fisiologia de sementes do cafeeiro foram obtidos nos ultimos anos. No entanto, apesar da extensa literatura, muitos aspectos permanecem obscuros. Este trabalho descreve o estado atual do conhecimento sobre as principais caracteristicas da fisiologia de sementes de cafeeiro, assim como os recentes trabalhos sobre o desenvolvimento, germinacao, armazenamento e longevidade das sementes.Palavras-chave: Coffea, armazenamento, cafe, desenvolvimento, germinacao, germoplasma, longevidade.INTRODUCTIONCoffee is a member of the Rubiaceae family and the genus Coffea. There are more than 70 species of coffee but only two are economically important: Coffea arabica L. and Coffea canephora Pierre; 70 % of the coffee traded in the world is arabica and 30 % is robusta (C. canephora). Other species such as C. congensis, C. dewevrei and C. racemosa have some interesting genetic characteristics, including resistance to pests and diseases and are used in breeding programs. To satisfy the demand for coffee within Brazil and around the world, intensive breeding programs have been undertaken to create new cultivars which are resistant to diseases and insects, and to incorporate new traits of value. In addition, new production and processing technologies are introduced every year, which have led to an enormous improvement in coffee production. Although progress has been made, not many studies have been devoted to the improvement of coffee seed quality for propagation.The purpose of this paper is to review our understanding of coffee seed physiology. Most of the work published in the literature and reported in this paper is on C. arabica seeds, although some aspects of C. canephora seed physiology are also included. Knowledge of seed physiology of other Coffea species is poor, with the exception of storage physiology, which is mostly related to germplasm conservation. Although this review will discuss some aspects of seed development and morphology, germination and storage physiology, the focus will be on germinability, and desiccation tolerance, with emphasis on the conservation of genetic resources. THE COFFEE SEEDThe coffee seed is elliptical or egg-shaped, plane-convex, possessing a longitudinal furrow on the plane surface (Dedecca, 1957). The outer cover of the seed is formed by a hard pale brown endocarp that becomes the “parchment” after drying. The endocarp contains an enclosed seed, which has

Subfields: Pharmacology, Plant Science

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