Tea, coffee, and cocoa are three of the most important agricultural commodities worldwide. Among them, coffee and cocoa are exclusively produced in the tropics and most of their production takes place in developing countries. Worldwide, approximately 170 million people depend on these two tropical tree crops to support their livelihoods. The future of coffee and cacao production is threatened by increasing damage caused by insect pests, plant pathogens and various abiotic stresses, often associated with the global climate changes. These challenges call for new varieties with improved horticultural traits, organoleptic properties, nutrition quality attributes and environment adaptability. Therefore, discovering new genetic variation from well managed and characterized germplasm will be the key for developing new varieties to ensure sustainable production of coffee and cacao in the world.

The proposed Special Issue aims at publishing original research or review papers dedicated to studies relating to conservation and use of genetic diversity in coffee and cacao. The key topics include, but not limited to, conservation status, collecting expeditions, wild relatives, diversity analysis, genebank management, in situ/on-farm conservation, germplasm characterization and evaluation and agroecology. We also welcome scientific research in socioeconomic aspects dealing with conservation and use of coffee and cacao germplasm.

Guest Editors

Dapeng Zhang, USDA-ARS, USA
Lin Yan, Flavor Beverage Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agriculture Sciences, China
Zongming Cheng, University of Tennessee, USA

Submission Instructions

Please submit the full manuscript to Beverage Plant Research via our online submission system. Please choose the topic of this Special Issue when submitting and specify it in your cover letter. For further inquiries, please contact guest editors: 

Dapeng Zhang (dapeng.zhang@usda.gov)
Lin Yan (yanlin2575@163.com)
Zongming Cheng (zcheng@utk.edu)