Nature 178, 217 - 218 (28 July 1956); doi:10.1038/178217b0

Control of Coffee Berry Disease in Kenya

K. R. BOCK & R. W. RAYNER

Coffee Research Station, Ruiru, Kenya. March 14.

A DISEASE of coffee berries, attributed to a form of Colletotrichum coffeanum Noack, was first described from West Rift areas of Kenya in 1922 ¹. It caused extensive losses and the abandonment of coffee cultivation on many estates, and although by 1939 selections of coffee which showed some degree of resistance had been made, direct attack with a considerable range of fungicides had led to little, if any, control of the disease. A detailed account of the disease and of investigations up to 1950 has been published².

1. McDonald, J. , Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., 2, 145 (1926).
2. Rayner, R. W. , East African Agric. J., 17, 130 (1952).
3. Rayner, R. W. , Ann. Rep. Dept. Agric. Kenya, Pt. 2 (Invest.) (1952).