Effect of drought on root and vegetative system growth in coffee seedlings (Coffea arabica L.) under controlled conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59992/IJSR.2025.v4n7p3Keywords:
Water Shortages, Morphological Traits, Physiological Traits, Root System, Coffee in Yemen, Climate ChangeAbstract
Agriculture is an important resource for Yemen and Yemenis, and coffee is at the forefront of cash crops and a source of income for more than 150,000 families, in recent decades its cultivation has declined due to the lack of water sources for irrigation, the scarcity of rainfall and the fluctuation of its seasons as a clear result of climate change.
Selection and genetic improvement for the development of local varieties of coffee methodology can lead to reducing the effects of drought, so this research was carried out within an integrated methodology that begins to understand the mechanisms of adaptation and tolerance to drought, and then search for genetic variations that enable improvement and selection of adapted varieties and landraces. The study was conducted by tracking the growth of plants up to the age of one year and under adapted environmental conditions suitable for coffee as a plant and under four levels of water (80-60-20-40% of the field capacity).
We evaluated traits related to vegetative growth, growth of the root system and physiological traits. The results showed that the coffee plant gradually declined its growth under the influence of the four levels of water quantity and the effect of drought was evident in some morphological characteristics such as the length of the plant and the number of leaves that remained alive, and the characteristics of the leaves were also affected in terms of their area and their dimensions also changed, as well as the characteristics of the dry weight of the leaves and the weight and length of the roots were important indicators that can be relied upon in the assessment of drought tolerance. The physiological characteristics also showed that the coffee plant shows adaptive mechanisms in increasing the chlorophyll content and increasing the density of stomata and the specific weight of the leaves, which allows plants to maintain the metabolism of the plant under drought conditions, which mechanisms can be used in the screening of local landraces of Yemeni coffee in the first stage. This laboratory study allowed researchers to develop a research protocol to assess the genetic variations of traits associated with tolerance or adaptation to drought, and can build on these results in understanding the mechanisms of tolerance of coffee plants to drought under Yemeni conditions.
References
1. Lackner, H. 2021. Climate Change and Conflict in Hadhramawt and Al Mahra. Berghof Report 12/2021.Berghof Foundation, Berlin.
2. World Bank (2010). Yemen – Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on the Water and Agricultural Sectors and the Policy Implications, Report No. 54196-YE, p. 20.
3. Clemens Breisinger, Olivier Ecker, Perrihan Al-Riffai, Richard Robertson, Rainer Thiele, Manfred Wiebelt, 2011. Climate Change, Agricultural Production and Food Security: Evidence from Yemen. Kiel Working Paper No. 1747 | November 2011.
4. Ilyun Koh, Rachael Garrett1, Anthony Janetos, and Nathaniel D Mueller 2020. Climate risks to Brazilian coffee production, Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 104015, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aba471.
5. Al- Hakimi A., 2012. Coffee cultivation and production in Yemen, Book published by Participatory foundation for research and dissemination, Sana’a, Yemen. In Arabic (زراعة وإنتاج البن في اليمن، كتاب منشور عن المؤسسة التشاركية للبحوث والدراسات والنشر، صنعاء اليمن 2012م.
6. DaMatta, F.M. 2004. Exploring drought tolerance in coffee: a physiological approach with some insights for plant breeding. Braz. J. Plant Physiol., 16(1):1-6.
7. Barros RS, Mota JWS, DaMatta FM, Maestri M (1997). Decline of vegetative growth in Coffea arabica L. in relation to leaf temperature, water potential and stomatal conductance. Field Crops Res. 54:65-72.
8. Al Hakimi A., 2003. The Use of Some Physiological Traits in Breeding for Drought Tolerance, Egypt. J. Appl. Sci., 18 (8B), 429-439.
9. AL HAKIMI A., P. MONNEVEUX, and G. GALIBA.1995. Soluble sugars, proline, and relative water content (RWC) as traits for improving drought tolerance and divergent selection for RWC from T. polonicum into T. durum. Journal of Genetics and Breeding 49: 237-244.
10. Al-Hakimi A. 2009, Agro- ecological factors affect chemical compounds and quality of Yemeni Green Coffee. University of Aden Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences. 13 (3): 257-264. (In Arabic).
11. DaMatta F.M, M Maestri and R.S Barros 1997. Photosynthetic performance of two coffee species under drought. Photosynthetica, 34 (1997), pp. 257–264.
12. Al Hakimi, A., Murry S., Lombardini L., & Schilling T. 2021. Coffee Genetic Resources in Yemen, Diversity and Importance for Arabica Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Improvement. 28th Conference Asic 2021. 28 June to 1 July, Montpellier, France, 28, p72.
13. Turner NC (1997) further progress in crop water relations. Adv. Agron. 58:293-338.
14. Blum A (1997) Crop responses to drought and the interpretation of adaptation. In: Belhassen E (ed), Drought Tolerance in Higher Plants: Genetical, Physiological and Molecular Biological Analysis, pp.57-70. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
15. Mazzafera P, Teixeira JPF (1989) Prolina em cafeeiros submetidos a déficit hydrico. Turrialba 39:305-313.
16. Meinzer FC, Grantz DA, Goldstein G, Saliendra NZ (1990b) Leaf water relations and maintenance of gas exchange in coffee cultivars grown in drying soil. Plant Physiol.94:1781-1787.6.
17. DaMatta FM, Chaves ARM, Pinheiro HA, Ducatti C, Loureiro ME (2003) Drought tolerance of two field-grown clones of Coffea canephora. Plant Sci. 164:111-117.
18. Josis P, Ndayishimiye V, Rénard C (1983) ةtude des relations hydriques chez Coffea arabica L. II. ةvaluation de la resistance à la secheresse de divers cultivars à Ghisa (Burundi). Café Cacao Thé 27:275-282.
19. Nunes MA (1976) Water relations in coffee: significance of plant water deficits to growth and yield: a review. J. Coffee Res. 6:4-21.
20. Al-Hakimi A., El-Jaafari S., Monneveux P., 1996. Using chlorophyll fluorescence for improving photosynthetic drought resistance in wheat spp. Conference Paper, Photosynthesis: from light to biosphere. Volume IV. Proceedings of the Xth International Photosynthesis Congress, Montpellier, France, 20-25 August 1995. No., pp.725-728 15. Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/author/Al-Hakimi%2C+A.
21. Dash A.P, De D.K, Nath R., Sarkar A., Mohanty S., and Bhattacharyya P.K. 2020. Effect of drought stress on relative water, chlorophyll and proline content in tolerant and susceptible genotypes of lentil (Lins culinaris Medik.)>Journal of Crop and Weed, 16(1):192-198.
22. Al Hakimi A, and Allard B. 2005 Collection, Characterization and Evaluation of Yemeni Landraces of Coffee (Cofea arabica L.), Zagazig J.Agric. Res., Vol. 32 No. (1), 23-34.
23. Morgan JM and Condon AG, 1986. Water use, grain yield, and osmoregulation in wheat. Functional plant biology 13 (4), 523-532.
24. Schonfeild MA, Johnson RC, Crver BF, Mornhinweg DW.1988. Water relation in winter wheat as drought resistance indicators. Crop Science 28 (3), 526-532.
25. Franks, P. J., & Farquhar, G. D. (2007). The mechanical diversity of stomata and its significance in gas-exchange control. Plant Physiology, 143(1), 78–87. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.106.089367.
26. Dow, G. J., Berry, J. A., & Bergmann, D. C. (2014). The physiological importance of developmental mechanisms that control stomatal spacing. Plant Physiology, 166(4), 1615–1623. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.114.248674
27. Hughes, J., Hepworth, C., Dutton, C., Dunn, J. A., Hunt, L., Stephens, J., ... & Gray, J. E. (2017). Reducing stomatal density in barley improves drought tolerance without impacting on yield. Plant Physiology, 174(2), 776-787. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.17.00352
28. Ramos RLS, Carvalho A (1997) Shoot and root evaluations on seedlings from Coffea genotypes. Bragantia 56:59-68.
29. Pinheiro HA (2004) Physiological and morphological adaptations as associated with drought tolerance in robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre var. kouillou). Viçosa, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, PhD Thesis.
30. Medrano H, Chaves MM, Porqueddu C, Caredda S (1998) Improving forage crops for semi-arid areas. Out. Agric.27:89-94.
31. أرول محسن أنور ولي 2016. الأساليب المحسنة لتنبؤ المساحة الورقية في الباقلاء (Vicia faba L.). مجلة تكريت للعلوم الصرفة، 21، (4) -E-ISSN:2415-1726(Online)
32. Mercado, A. 1973. Structure and function of plants in saline habitats: New trends in study of salt tolerance (Translation by Golleck, N.) John Willey and Sons, New York, USA. 160-196.
33. AL HAKIMI A. and P. MONNEVEUX. 1992. Root characteristic and leaf water content in primitive wheat species. In: Genetic Diversity and Plant Breeding for Drought Tolerance in Mediterranean Environments. P. Monneveux and M. Ben Salem (ed.) Les colloques, n°64. Montpellier- France, Dec. 15-17-1992.
34. Huang, B. and H. Gao. 1999. Physiological responses of diverse tall fescue cultivars to drought stress. Hort. Sci., 34: 897-901.
35. Huang, B. and J. Fu. 2000. Photosynthesis respiration and carbon allocation in two cool season perennial grasses in response to surface soil drying. Plant Soil, 227: 17-26.
36. Taiz, L. and E. Zeiger. 1998. Plant Physiology. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers. Sunderrland, Massachusetts.
37. Sera Tumoru 2001. Coffee Genetic Breeding at IAPAR. Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology, v. 1, n. 2, p. 179-199, 2001 179.
38. Al Hakimi A., 2003. The Use of Some Physiological Traits in Breeding for Drought Tolerance, Egyptin J.Appl. Sci., 18 (8B), 429-439.
39. Krishnan S, Pruvot-Woehl S, Davis AP, Schilling T, Moat J, Solano W, Al Hakimi A & Montagnon C (2021). Validating South Sudan as a Center of Origin for Coffea arabica: Implications for Conservation and Coffee Crop Improvement. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5:761611. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.761611.
40. Simone Scalabrin1,17, Lucile toniutti2,17*, Gabriele Di Gaspero3, Davide Scaglione1, Gabriele Magris3,4, Michele Vidotto1, Sara pinosio3,5, Federica cattonaro1, federica Magni1, Irena Jurman3, Mario cerutti6, Furio Suggi Liverani7, Luciano navarini7, Lorenzo Del terra7, Gloria pellegrino6, Manuela Rosanna Ruosi6, Nicola Vitulo8, Giorgio Valle9, Alberto pallavicini10, Giorgio Graziosi10, Patricia E. Klein11, Nolan Bentley11, Seth Murray12, William Solano13, Amin Al Hakimi14, Timothy Schilling2, Christophe Montagnon2, Michele Morgante3,4 & Benoit Bertrand15,16. A single polyploidization event at the origin of the tetraploid genome of Coffea arabica is responsible for the extremely low genetic variation in wild and cultivated germplasm. Scientific RepoRtS (2020) 10:4642. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61216-7.
www.nature.com/scientificreports.
