biostudies-literatureSuganami MMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesGrants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science3715https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12736433biostudies-literatureUnknown14(24)Cold winter injury is a significant challenge in cultivating tropical trees in temperate regions. The conventional solution involves heating the entire greenhouse to protect the plants; however, this approach is fuel-intensive and costly. This study investigated whether root-zone heating can mitigate cold injury in coffee trees. In the Control, non-heated treatments, leaf relative water content dropped to approximately 70%, leading to wilting, whereas in the Heat treatment, it remained above 90%. In the Control treatment, defoliation progressed, ultimately resulting in more than 50% leaf loss. In contrast, defoliation was reduced by approximately 20% with the Heat treatment. During the cold-treatment period, photosynthesis declined sharply in both the Control and Heat treatments, with CO<sPlants (Basel, Switzerland)Does Root-Zone Heating Mitigate the Cold Injury in Coffee Tree (&lt;i&gt;Coffea arabica&lt;/i&gt;)?PMC12736433JP24H022575G4B1JP21K14758Suganami MTakata DSaeki AIwasaki NfalseDoes Root-Zone Heating Mitigate the Cold Injury in Coffee Tree (&lt;i&gt;Coffea arabica&lt;/i&gt;)?Cold winter injury is a significant challenge in cultivating tropical trees in temperate regions. The conventional solution involves heating the entire greenhouse to protect the plants; however, this approach is fuel-intensive and costly. This study investigated whether root-zone heating can mitigate cold injury in coffee trees. In the Control, non-heated treatments, leaf relative water content dropped to approximately 70%, leading to wilting, whereas in the Heat treatment, it remained above 90%. In the Control treatment, defoliation progressed, ultimately resulting in more than 50% leaf loss. In contrast, defoliation was reduced by approximately 20% with the Heat treatment. During the cold-treatment period, photosynthesis declined sharply in both the Control and Heat treatments, with CO<s2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Dec2026-05-27T08:03:24.286Z2026-05-27T03:12:28.906ZS-EPMC127364334147059810.3390/plants14243715