Effect of fertigation levels on fertilizer use efficiency, yield, quality and economics of Robusta coffee

Abstract

Robusta coffee production largely depends upon irrigation and nutrition management practices. These factors determine the increase in productivity and quality of coffee. Therefore, restrictions of Robusta coffee production due to soil nutrient deficiencies can be removed by applying the right quantities of fertilizers at the right time with the right method. A long‐term experiment was conducted to study the impact of different fertigation levels on the yield, nutrient use efficiency and quality of Robusta coffee. The present experiment was conducted on a randomized block design consisting of six treatments with four replications over a period of 5 years from 2017 to 2021 at the Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI), Balehonnuru, India. The results revealed that among different fertigation levels, fertigation with 75% and 100% of the recommended dose of fertilizer resulted in significantly higher yields (2117 kg ha−, 1821 kg ha−1) and yield attributing parameters, namely, total number of nodes/branches (49.1, 44.1), number of bearing nodes/branches (35.0, 29.4) and number of fruits/branches (758, 679) in Robusta coffee, based on the pooled mean (2017–2021). Therefore, adoption of the fertigation level with 75% of the recommended dose of fertilizers not only increased the productivity of Robusta coffee but also ensured a higher efficiency of nutrients (25%–30%) and cost–benefit ratio (1:2.48).