IMPACT OF BERRY BLOTCH DISEASE (Cercospora coffeicola Berk. & Cooke.) ON COFFEE QUALITY AND VALUE IN COLOMBIA.
Carlos Angel: National Coffee Research Center -Cenicafe
<div>Coffee Berry Blotch Disease (BBD, <em>Cercospora coffeicola</em>) is relevant worldwide, causing defoliation and yield losses to berries, but limited data exist on assessing these losses. To determine economic loss functions and BBD impact on physical and beverage quality, samples of <em>Coffea arabica</em> cv. Colombia ripe-berries from a commercial field were collected according to a BBD severity grading scale, from grade 1 (superficial spots) to grade 5 (≥ 75% of berry´s pericarp and pulp necrosed and sunken). Berries were processed to obtain dried green beans, and weight conversion factors, yield, defective beans and commercial price were determined based on Colombian coffee standards. A coffee tasting panel analyzed 15 cups per each healthy and BBD grade samples, and spiked healthy samples with 5 and 10% per grade in berries weight. Grades 1 and 2 (superficially diseased) showed neither economic losses nor physical and beverage quality defects. However, significant differences occurred for grades 3, 4 and 5, which weight losses ranged from 19.8 to 75.2% for berries, and from 10.2 to 30.6% for green beans, whereas healthy beans ranged from 87.5 to 56.4% respectively. Grade 3 beans lose 61.6% of market price and 100% for grades 4 and 5. Significant exponential loss functions were obtained with determination coefficients R<sup>2</sup> higher than 0.74. Beverage from grade 3 rejected 83% of the cups and 100% from grades 4 and 5. Healthy spiked samples with grades 3 to 5 rejected 42 to 100% of the cups because tasted to phenolic, astringent, fermented, immature and dirty defects. Consequently, BBD severely affects coffee yield, price, and physical and beverage quality.</div>
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