Variations in leaf growth parameters within the tree structure of adult Coffea arabica in relation to seasonal growth, water availability and air carbon dioxide concentration

Uncovering the wide protective responses in Coffea spp. leaves to single and superimposed exposure of warming and severe water deficit

Climate changes boosted the frequency and severity of drought and heat events, with aggravated when these stresses occur simultaneously, turning crucial to unveil the plant response mechanisms to such harsh conditions. Therefore, plant responses/resilience to single and combined exposure to severe water deficit (SWD) and heat were assessed in two cultivars of the main coffee-producing species: Coffea arabica cv. Icatu and C. canephora cv. Conilon Clone 153 (CL153). Well-watered plants (WW) were exposed to SWD under an adequate temperature of 25/20°C (day/night), and thereafter submitted to a gradual increase up to 42/30°C, and a 14-d recovery period (Rec14). Greater protective response was found to single SWD than to single 37/28°C and/or 42/30°C (except for HSP70) in both cultivars, but CL153-SWD plants showed the larger variations of leaf thermal imaging crop water stress index (CWSI, 85% rise at 37/28°C) and stomatal conductance index (IG, 66% decline at 25/20°C). Both cultivars revealed great resilience to SWD and/or 37/28°C, but a tolerance limit was surpassed at 42/30°C. Under stress combination, Icatu usually displayed lower impacts on membrane permeability, and PSII function, likely associated with various responses, usually mostly driven by drought (but often kept or even strengthened under SWD and 42/30°C). These included the photoprotective zeaxanthin and lutein, antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, Cu,Zn-SOD; ascorbate peroxidase, APX), HSP70, arabinose and mannitol (involving de novo sugar synthesis), contributing to constrain lipoperoxidation. Also, only Icatu showed a strong reinforcement of glutathione reductase activity under stress combination. In general, the activities of antioxidative enzymes declined at 42/30°C (except Cu,Zn-SOD in Icatu and CAT in CL153), but HSP70 and raffinose were maintained higher in Icatu, whereas mannitol and arabinose markedly increased in CL153. Overall, a great leaf plasticity was found, especially in Icatu that revealed greater responsiveness of coordinated protection under all experimental conditions, justifying low PIChr and absence of lipoperoxidation increase at 42/30°C. Despite a clear recovery by Rec14, some aftereffects persisted especially in SWD plants (e.g., membranes), relevant in terms of repeated stress exposure and full plant recovery to stresses.

Leaf gas exchange and bean quality fluctuations over the whole canopy vertical profile of Arabic coffee cultivated under elevated CO2

Leaves in different positions respond differently to dynamic fluctuations in light availability, temperature and to multiple environmental stresses. The current hypothesis states that elevated atmospheric CO2 (e[CO2]) can compensate for the negative effects of water scarcity regarding leaf gas exchanges and coffee bean quality traits over the canopy vertical profile, in interactions with light and temperature microclimate during the two final stages of berry development. Responses of Coffea arabica L. were observed in the 5th year of a free air CO2 enrichment experiment (FACE) under water-limited rainfed conditions. The light dependent leaf photosynthesis curves (A/PAR) were modelled for leaves sampled from vertical profile divided into four 50-cm thick layers. e[CO2] significantly increased gross photosynthesis (AmaxGross), the apparent quantum yield efficiency, light compensation point, light saturation point (LSP) and dark respiration rate (Rd). As a specific stage response, considering berry ripening, all parameters calculated from A/PAR were insensitive to leaf position over the vertical profile. Lack of a progressive increase in AmaxGross and LSP was observed over the whole canopy profile in both stages, especially in the two lowest layers, indicating leaf plasticity to light. Negative correlation of Rd to leaf temperature (TL) was observed under e[CO2] in both stages. Under e[CO2], stomatal conductance was also negatively correlated with TL, reducing leaf transpiration and Rd even with increasing TL. This indicated coffee leaf acclimation to elevated temperatures under e[CO2] and water restriction. The e[CO2] attenuation occurred under water restriction, especially in A and water use efficiency, in both stages, with the exception of the lowest two layers. Under e[CO2], coffee produced berries in moderate- and high light level layers, with homogeneous distribution among them, contrasted to the heterogeneous distribution under actual CO2. e[CO2] led to increased caffeine content in the highest layer, with reduction of chlorogenic acid and lipids under moderate light and to raised levels of sugar in the shaded low layer. The ability of coffee to respond to e[CO2] under limited soil water was expressed through the integrated individual leaf capacities to use the available light and water, resulting in final plant investments in new reproductive structures in moderate and high light level layers.

Ecometabolic mixture design-fingerprints from exploratory multi-block data analysis in Coffea arabica beans from climate changes: Elevated carbon dioxide and reduced soil water availability

Ecometabolic mixture design-fingerprinting in coffee cultivated under climate change was chemically explored using ComDim. Multi-blocks were formed using UV, NIRS, ¹H NMR, SWV, and FT-IR data. ComDim investigated all these different fingerprints according to the extractor solvent and in virtue of atmospheric CO₂ increase. Ethanol and ethanol-dichloromethane showed the best separations due to CO₂ environment. ¹H NMR loading indicate increases of fatty acids, caffeine, trigonelline, and glucose in beans under current CO₂ levels, whereas quinic acid/chlorogenic acids, malic acid, and kahweol/cafestol increased in beans under elevated CO₂ conditions. SWV indicated quercetin and chlorogenic acid as important compounds in coffee beans cultivated under current and elevated CO₂, respectively. Based on the ethanol and ethanol-dichloromethane fingerprints, k-NN correctly classified the beans cultivated under different carbon dioxide environments and water availabilities, confirming the existence of metabolic changes due to climate changes. SWV proved to be promising compared with widely used spectrometric methods.

Biomass and Leaf Acclimations to Ultraviolet Solar Radiation in Juvenile Plants of Coffea arabica and C. canephora

Despite the negative impacts of increased ultraviolet radiation intensity on plants, these organisms continue to grow and produce under the increased environmental UV levels. We hypothesized that ambient UV intensity can generate acclimations in plant growth, leaf morphology, and photochemical functioning in modern genotypes of Coffea arabica and C. canephora. Coffee plants were cultivated for ca. six months in a mini greenhouse under either near ambient (UVam) or reduced (UVre) ultraviolet regimes. At the plant scale, C. canephora was substantially more impacted by UVam when compared to C. arabica, investing more carbon in all juvenile plant components than under UVre. When subjected to UVam, both species showed anatomic adjustments at the leaf scale, such as increases in stomatal density in C. canephora, at the abaxial and adaxial cuticles in both species, and abaxial epidermal thickening in C. arabica, although without apparent impact on the thickness of palisade and spongy parenchyma. Surprisingly, C. arabica showed more efficient energy dissipation mechanism under UVam than C. canephora. UVam promoted elevated protective carotenoid content and a greater use of energy through photochemistry in both species, as reflected in the photochemical quenching increases. This was associated with an altered chlorophyll a/b ratio (significantly only in C. arabica) that likely promoted a greater capability to light energy capture. Therefore, UV levels promoted different modifications between the two Coffea sp. regarding plant biomass production and leaf morphology, including a few photochemical differences between species, suggesting that modifications at plant and leaf scale acted as an acclimation response to actual UV intensity.

The main effects of elevated CO2 and soil-water deficiency on 1H NMR-based metabolic fingerprints of Coffea arabica beans by factorial and mixture design

The metabolic response of Coffea arabica trees in the face of the rising atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) combined with the reduction in soil-water availability is complex due to the various (bio)chemical feedbacks. Modern analytical tools and the experimental advance of agronomic science tend to advance in the understanding of the metabolic complexity of plants. In this work, Coffea arabica trees were grown in a Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment dispositive under factorial design (2²) conditions considering two CO₂ levels and two soil-water availabilities. The ¹H NMR mixture design-fingerprinting effects of CO₂ and soil-water levels on beans were strategically investigated using the principal component analysis (PCA), analysis of variance (ANOVA) - simultaneous component analysis (ASCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). From the ASCA, the CO₂ factor had a significant effect on changing the ¹H NMR profile of fingerprints. The soil-water factor and interaction (CO₂ × soil-water) were not significant. ¹H NMR fingerprints with PCA, ASCA and PLS-DA analysis determined spectral profiles for fatty acids, caffeine, trigonelline and glucose increases in beans from current CO₂, while quinic acid/chlorogenic acids, malic acid and kahweol/cafestol increased in coffee beans from elevated CO₂. PLS-DA results revealed a good classification performance between the significant effect of the atmospheric CO₂ levels on the fingerprints, regardless of the soil-water availabilities. Finally, the PLS-DA model showed good prediction ability, successfully classifying validation data-set of coffee beans collected over the vertical profile of the plants and included several fingerprints of different extracting solvents. The results of this investigation suggest that the association of experimental design, mixture design, PCA, ASCA and PLS-DA can provide accurate information on a series of metabolic changes provoked by climate changes in products of commercial importance, in addition to minimizing the extra work necessary in classic analytical approaches, encouraging the development of similar strategies.

Potential biomonitoring of atmospheric carbon dioxide in Coffea arabica leaves using near-infrared spectroscopy and partial least squares discriminant analysis

The potencial of Coffea arabica leaves as bioindicators of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) was evaluated in a free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) experiment by using near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy for direct analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). A supervised classification model was built and validated from the spectra of coffee leaves grown under elevated and current CO₂ levels. PLS-DA allowed correct test set classification of 92% of the elevated-CO₂ level leaves and 100% of the current-CO₂ level leaves. The spectral bands accounting for the discrimination of the elevated-CO₂ leaves were at 1657 and 1698 nm, as indicated by the variable importance in the projection (VIP) score together with the regression coefficients. Seven months after suspension of enriched CO₂, returning to current-CO₂ levels, new spectral measurements were made and subjected to PLS-DA analysis. The predictive model correctly classified all leaves as grown under current-CO₂ levels. The fingerprints suggest that after suspension of elevated-CO₂, the spectral changes observed previously disappeared. The recovery could be triggered by two reasons: the relief of the stress stimulus or the perception of a return of favorable conditions. In addition, the results demonstrate that NIR spectroscopy can provide a rapid, nondestructive, and environmentally friendly method for biomonitoring leaves suffering environmental modification. Finally, C. arabica leaves associated with NIR and mathematical models have the potential to become a good biomonitoring system.