I can live with the tasty bananas getting wiped out, but no arabica?
Does anyone know what % of these plantations in Ethiopia use grafted trees? I know grafting is very common in wine (vinifera on labrusca/..) but I haven't learned much about coffee. I did find a source stating it was done in certain parts of Latin America, esp. Guatemala: [1]
Arabian coffee (Coffea arabica) produces a higher grade of
coffee than Canefera coffee (Coffea robusta, the kind used
to make instant coffee), but the former is nematode-
susceptible while the latter is resistant. Scions from
seedlings of C. arabica are grafted onto seedling
understocks of C. robusta for coffee plantations in
Guatemala and other parts of Latin America.
A very short PDF I found discussed more than one study, the most recent being in 2010: [2]
In India, D’Souza et al (2010) carried out many graft
combinations between and within different Arabica and
Robusta varieties. They found enhanced photosynthetic rates
with Arabica-Arabica scion-rootstock grafts over ungrafted
plants. Arabicas grafted onto Robusta rootstocks showed
lower net photosynthesis, but also decreased transpiration
rates, suggesting that there is a productivity penalty for
increased drought protection as found by other authors.
Finally a found a large PDF [3] mentioning the prevalence again in Guatemala at high elevation (>1000m) and nematode presence. The paper then mentions grafting on a low-land (400~1000m) Arabusta hybrid might produce good yields in Africa.
So now I'm back to my question: is grafting prevalent in countries other than Guatemala? At which elevations, and on what root stock? I'd love to know more about this situation.
Does anyone know what % of these plantations in Ethiopia use grafted trees? I know grafting is very common in wine (vinifera on labrusca/..) but I haven't learned much about coffee. I did find a source stating it was done in certain parts of Latin America, esp. Guatemala: [1]
A very short PDF I found discussed more than one study, the most recent being in 2010: [2] Finally a found a large PDF [3] mentioning the prevalence again in Guatemala at high elevation (>1000m) and nematode presence. The paper then mentions grafting on a low-land (400~1000m) Arabusta hybrid might produce good yields in Africa.So now I'm back to my question: is grafting prevalent in countries other than Guatemala? At which elevations, and on what root stock? I'd love to know more about this situation.
[1] http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/reasons/ReasonsGBFrm.ht...
[2] http://toolbox.coffeeandclimate.org/userdata/tool/media/graf...
[3] http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/36/2/269.full.pd...