Coffee fruit

The fruit is a berry, also known as comb fruit. Oval, 9-14 mm long, young fruit green, red at maturity, purplish red. Each fruit generally has two seeds, but also one or three, showing a semi-oval, there is a longitudinal groove, called grooves. In the structure of the fruit, the exocarp is composed of a thin layer of hardwood human cells, with stomata scattered on the outside; the mesocarp (that is, pulp) is composed of several layers of polygonal large and Lignified parcels, and the innermost layers of cells are slightly compressed. Vascular bundles containing a large amount of fiber can be seen between the cells, and the endocarp, also known as the sheepskin (seed shell), is a thin horny shell composed of stone cells. The seed coat, also known as the silver coat, is the thin coat of the outer layer of the seed. The color and thickness of the seed coat is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the variety. The seed kernel is the coffee bean without silver coat, which is called "commercial coffee bean" on the market. The seed contains two parts of embryo. The embryo is at the base of the endosperm. Cutting the endosperm shows a pair of fleshy sunflower fan-shaped cotyledons and white embryos.

1. Fruit development

The development time of coffee fruit is long, and the time from flowering to ripening varies with species, small seed coffee takes 8 ~ 10 months (maturing from October to December of that year), medium grain coffee takes 10 ~ 12 months (from November to May next year), and large seed takes 12 ~ 13 months.

The rate of fruit development also varies with different species. Small-seed coffee fruit increases fastest 2-3 months after anthesis, and after 4 months, its volume is basically stable and dry matter accumulation increases. The growth of dry matter was the fastest at 5-6 months after anthesis, the development of medium-grain coffee fruit accelerated at 3-4 months after anthesis, the fastest at 4-6 months, and slowed down at 7-9 months. At this time, the dry matter of the fruit accumulated rapidly and its volume increased slightly before fruit ripening.

two。 Rainfall has a great influence on fruit development, and climatic conditions directly affect fruit development.

One month after flowering, in case of drought, the young fruit often dries up due to lack of water, resulting in low fruit rate. During the period of fruit development, the fruit will be small / early maturing, while the wind (or strong wind) will easily lead to fruit drop, resulting in yield reduction or failure.