World Coffee Research scientists share the future of coffee at 30th ASIC conference in Lisbon

From October 27–31, members of the World Coffee Research team (WCR) will join scientists from across the globe at the 30th biannual Association for Science and Information on Coffee (ASIC) conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The conference provides specialists worldwide with the opportunity to gather and share their research on all aspects of coffee science and technology.

WCR scientists, including Dr. Veronica Belchior, Research Scientist for Coffee Quality, Dr. Santos Barrera Lemus, Research Scientist in Plant Breeding and Genomics, and Dr. Tania Humphrey, Director of Research and Development, will present on several research topics related to securing the future of coffee by creating, testing, and distributing new, climate-resilient varieties in producing countries across the globe. Click on the links below to read more about posters and talks that will be presented by the WCR team and partners.

• Breeding for Improved Coffee Quality
• Evaluation of Coffee Leaf Rust Resistance in the International Multilocation Variety Trial (IMLVT)
• A Medium Density SNP Marker Panel for Arabica Coffee (Coffea Arabica L.) Research and Breeding
• Coffea canephora: Plan for a Global Breeding Network
• Exploring Arabica G×E Along Climate Gradients: Findings from the International Multi-Variety Trial

Breeding for Improved Coffee Quality

Poster, Presented by Dr. Veronica Belchior

Authors include Veronica Belchior, Robert Kawuki, Santos Barrera, Jorge Berny Mier y Teran, and Tania Humphrey (World Coffee Research)

Coffee quality is one of the most important traits in breeding programs, yet its evaluation is traditionally slow, costly, and subjective. Conventional methods, such as cupping panels and chromatographic analyses, provide precision but are difficult to scale. Conventional methods deliver classification across different samples according to specific markets and preferences, which make it difficult to define traits to measure quality.

Once quality traits are defined, high-throughput methods can be used to help breeders screen genotype candidates. Spectroscopic tools such as FTIR and NIR, combined with chemometric modeling, offer a promising alternative: they are rapid, non-destructive, and cost-effective for high-throughput quality prediction. This project examines how industry-defined quality traits and how sensory evaluation and spectroscopy can be integrated to develop reliable tools for breeding and quality control.

Evaluation of Coffee Leaf Rust Resistance in the International Multilocation Variety Trial (IMLVT)

Presentation by Dr. Santos Barrera Lemus

Authors include Jorge C. Berny Mier y Teran (WCR) and International Multilocation Variety Trial Consortium (Collaborators in: Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, México, Nicaragua, Perú, Rwanda, Zambia)

Hemileia vastatrix, the causal agent of coffee leaf rust, is one of the most widespread diseases affecting arabica coffee production. Breeding programs require the identification of highly resistant varieties, including their stability across different environments. As single countries are relatively limited in environmental conditions, collaborations across countries can lead to identifying both broad and localized adaptation.

Twenty-nine coffee varieties from 11 breeding programs were assessed in 23 sites across three continents. CLR severity was visually scored on a 1-5 scale. Statistical analysis used mixed models, genotype plus genotype-by-environment interaction (GGE), and weighted average of absolute scores, to assess overall performance, genotype-by-environment interactions and stability.

A Medium Density SNP Marker Panel for Arabica Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Research and Breeding

Presentation by Dr. Santos Barrera Lemus

Authors include Jorge C. Berny Mier Teran, Santos Barrera Lemus, Tania Humphrey (WCR), Eveline Teixeira Caixeta (EMBRAPA), Carlos Acuña-Matamoros (Del Oro, ICAFE), Simon Martin Mvuyekure (RAB, WCR), William Solano (CATIE), Iara Gonçalves dos Santos (Universidade Federal de Visçosa), Stephanie Sibaja Hernández (ICAFE), Anyu Zhou, Kaimen Peng, Katarzyna Heller-Uszynska, Andrzej Kilian (Diversity Arrays Technology), George Kotch (Pendegast Consultancy, WCR)

The breeding of orphan crops, such as arabica coffee, has historically faced challenges due to inadequate funding, which has limited access to molecular tools to accelerate breeding. One of the key tools to accelerate genetic gain is the use of molecular markers, as the markers allow early selection, shorter breeding cycles, and reduced phenotyping costs.

In an international, multi-institutional collaboration effort, a medium-density genotyping panel was developed to be used in different molecular breeding applications, including genomic prediction, mapping, and diversity studies. The panel consists of 5,053 SNP markers distributed across the two subgenomes, identified from sequencing diverse germplasm relevant to breeding programs and overall available genetic diversity.

Coffea canephora: Plan for a Global Breeding Network

Presentation by Dr. Tania Humphrey

Authors include Robert Kawuki, Santos Barrera, Jorge Berny Mier y Teran, and Tania Humphrey (WCR)

Coffea canephora breeding has undoubtedly had multi-dimensional impact during the 20th and 21st centuries. It is evident, nevertheless, that robusta has encountered and still faces many difficulties. One of the significant obstacles has been low profitability due to suboptimal production per unit area, which depending on the location, can be brought on by a number of stresses. It's for these reasons that we are putting forth this global effort to greatly enhance C. canephora production and productivity.

The global breeding network spans six countries including partnerships with Government research institutes in Asia and Africa. This plan is mapped out into four breeding stages and/or processes, each with distinct inputs and outputs.

Exploring Arabica G×E Along Climate Gradients: Findings from the International Multi-Variety Trial

Presentation by Dr. Romain Gautron (Alliance Biodiversity-CIAT)

Authors include Romain Gautron, Luis Fernando Munoz, Santos Barrera, Eric Rahn, Christian Bunn, Solene Pruvot-Woehl, Catherine Maina, Jane Jerono Cheserek, Edgardo Alpizar, Chemutai Job Alunga, Julio Alvarado, Brahim Banda, Dorian Baudry, Melanie Bordeaux, Jonny Alonso Castillo, Fabio Castro, Divya Kallingapuram Das, Jeena Devasia, Elijah K. Gichuru, Tania Humphrey, Nathan Aliel Kachiguma, Jean Baptiste Kayigamba, Suresh Kumar, Rosalıo Lopez Morgado, Simon Martin Mvuyekure, Benit Mate, Hans Alexander Méndez Mendoza, Albertino Meza, Christophe Montagnon, Beatriz Moreno Lopez, Paul Mulemangabo, Never Mwatsiya, James Mwita Gimase, Miftahur Rizqi Akbar, Ariana Karina Román Ruíz, Godfrey Sseremba, Nayani Suryprakash Rao, Samson Tarusenga, Piet van Asten, Ari Wibowo

Future climate uncertainty poses significant risks to Coffea arabica production, underscoring the need to better understand genotype (G) × environment (E) interactions to support resilient cultivar selection and breeding. This study analyzes the performance of 32 C. arabica varieties evaluated at 29 sites across 18 countries.

Hybrids and Sarchimor varieties tended to show the best performance for yield and rust. They also appeared to be specifically adapted for yield (i.e., with limited dynamic stability), which should be considered in variety recommendations. We also identified a cluster of introgressed varieties showing a good trade-off between performance and stability. Pure Arabica lines showed the lowest performance and stability. These exploratory insights aim to motivate targeted follow-up trials to validate the identified drivers and guide variety selection and breeding strategies to improve future climate resilience.