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Altitude is the main driver of coffee leaf rust epidemics: a large-scale survey in Ethiopia

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Abstract

Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is a native from Africa, particularly from Ethiopia. Previously of little concern to Ethiopian farmers, coffee leaf rust (CLR), caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, is an emergent disease globally. To update the status of CLR, a large survey was conducted in 405 coffee fields across nine production zones of Oromia and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) regions. The disease, evaluated one time during the month of the peak for CLR intensity for each region, was present in every single field; mean incidence and severity ranged from 5 to 86.7% (mean = 35.3%) and 0.22 to 55.5 (mean = 9.09), respectively. A complimentary log-log model was developed to predict mean field severity from mean field incidence. Altitude, a known surrogate variable for temperature, was the main driver of the epidemics. Incidence and severity were highest at the lowland fields, where poorly managed plantations of local varieties grown under open sun were also more dominant. CLR intensity decreased with the increase in altitude at the highlands where well-managed and improved varieties grown under the shade in forest systems dominate the scenario. Our results contribute to increase awareness of a growing problem threatening coffee fields that are still under lower risk, such as at the highlands, particularly if temperatures rise and farmers cut forest to grow plantations of susceptible cultivars. Improving genetic resistance and adoption of best management practices are urgent to prevent the rapid surge of new races and mitigate crop losses currently overlooked by coffee farmers at the lowlands.

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Acknowledgments

This work represents part of a research project to be submitted to Jimma University College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine of Jimma University by K.B. Bekele as a requirement for him to be awarded a PhD in Horticulture. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research and Jimma University for Financial and logistics support to this research work. K.B.B. also thanks the World Coffee Research for providing funding for his split-PhD training period in the Departamento de Fitopatologia at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (Brazil). Moreover, we want to thank the staffs of Jimma Agricultural Research Center department of Plant Pathology Research, particularly Mr. Mamo Abiye, Mr. Nagasa Dachasa, and Mr. Legese Hagos for their unreserved support during the survey and data collection.

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Author notes

  1. Kifle Belachew and Emerson Medeiros Del Ponte contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture and Plant Sciences, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Kifle Belachew, Girma Adugna Senbeta & Weyessa Garedew

  2. Departamento de Fitopatologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Robert W. Barreto & Emerson Medeiros Del Ponte

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  1. Kifle Belachew
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  2. Girma Adugna Senbeta
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  5. Emerson Medeiros Del Ponte
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Contributions

KBB, GA, and WG designed the study. KB collected the data and wrote the manuscript. EMD performed the statistical analyses, interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript. RWB wrote the manuscript. All authors read the manuscript and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Kifle Belachew.

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Belachew, K., Senbeta, G.A., Garedew, W. et al. Altitude is the main driver of coffee leaf rust epidemics: a large-scale survey in Ethiopia. Trop. plant pathol. 45, 511–521 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-020-00383-4

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