Breeding for resistance to coffee berry disease in Coffea arabica L. II. Inheritance of the resistance

Summary The inheritance of resistance to coffee berry disease (CBD) has been studied by applying a preselection test to F₂ progenies of a half diallel cross between 11 coffee varieties with different degrees of resistance and to sets of parental, F₁, F₂, B₁₁ and B₁₂ generations of crosses between resistant and susceptible varieties. True resistance to CBD appears to be controlled by major genes on three different loci. The highly resistant variety Rume Sudan carries the dominant R- and the recessive K-genes. The non-allelic interaction between these two genes is of a duplicate nature. The R-locus has multiple alleles with R₁R₁alleles present in Rume Sudan and the somewhat less effective R₂R₂alleles in a variety like Pretoria, which also has the K-gene. The moderately resistant variety K7 carries only the recessive K-gene. The arabica-like variety Hibrido de Timor (a natural interspecific arabica x robusta hybrid) carries one gene for CBD resistance on the T-locus with intermediate gene action. It probably inherited this gene from its robusta parent. There is circumstantial evidence that the resistance to CBD is of a stable nature, but it is advisable to accumulate in one genotype as many resistance genes as possible by combining in the breeding programme the resistance of Rume Sudan with that of Hibrido de Timor.