Tropentag 2023, September 20 - 22, Berlin, Germany "Competing pathways for equitable food systems transformation: trade-offs and synergies."

Optimisation of micropropagation protocol for mass multiplication of hybrid coffee (Coffea arabica L.) cultivars of Ethiopia

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Jimma Agricultural Research Center, Plant Biotechnology Department, Ethiopia

Abstract

Hybrid technologies were expected to revolutionise the Ethiopian coffee sector through the exploitation of heterosis conserved in the F1 hybrids. However, due to a lack of efficient propagation methods, these high-yielding cultivars were not disseminated to growers. Nevertheless, large quantities of planting materials of elite varieties can be multiplied by tissue culture methods once successful optimisation of conditions is completed in vitro. We followed an indirect somatic embryogenesis approach and optimised an efficient and reproducible protocol to propagate F1 hybrid varieties. We also applied a simple and cost-effective approach to sterilizing the leaf and obtained an 80–90% clean explant that produces a callus. Using various combinations of PGRs, mainly auxin and cytokinin, in addition to MS medium, vitamins, amino acids, carbon sources, and organic supplements, on average 401 somatic embryos per explant (i.e., from a 1 cm² leaf disc) were obtained. The result achieved after several years of efforts may be a breakthrough for the coffee sector if existing capacity improves on an industrial scale and small-holder producers have access to high-quality TC-raised planting materials.

Keywords: Coffee, F1 Hybrids, Micropropagation, Somatic embryogenesis

Contact Address: Habtamu Seyoum Aragaw, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Jimma Agricultural Research Center, Plant Biotechnology Department, P.O. Box 192, Jima, Ethiopia, e-mail: htito2050gmail.com