Microclimatic characterization and productivity of coffee plants grown under shade of pigeon pea in Southern Brazil

Abstract

-Recent studies on coffee (Coffea arabica L.) cultivation in agroforestry systems in Southern Brazil have shown the potential of partial shading to improve management of this crop. The objective of this work was to evaluate microclimatic conditions and their effects on coffee production of plants shaded with pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) in comparison to unshaded ones, from May 2001 to August 2002 in Londrina, State of Paraná, Brazil. The appraised microclimatic characteristics were: global radiation, photosynthetic and radiation balance; air, leaf and soil temperatures; and soil humidity. Shading caused significant reduction in incident global solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation and net radiation, and attenuated maximum leaf, air and soil temperatures, during the day. Shade also reduced the rate of cooling of night air and leaf temperatures, especially during nights with radiative frost. Soil moisture at 0-10 cm depth was higher under shade. The shaded coffee plants produced larger cherries due to slower maturation, resulting in larger bean size. Nevertheless, plants under shade emitted less plagiotropic branches, with smaller number of nodes per branch, and fewer nodes with fruits, resulting in a large reduction in coffee production. These results show the need to find an optimal tree density and management that do not compromise coffee production and protect against extreme temperatures.Index terms: Coffea arabica, Cajanus cajan, frost protection, photosynthetically active radiation, coffee production, shade. Caracterização microclimática e produtividade de cafeeiros sombreados com guandu no Sul do BrasilResumo -Recentes estudos sobre cafeeiros (Coffea arabica L.) cultivados em sistemas agroflorestais no Sul do Brasil têm mostrado o potencial do sombreamento parcial no manejo desta cultura. O objectivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as condições do microclima e seus efeitos na produção de café sombreado com guandu (Cajanus cajan), em comparação ao cultivado a pleno sol, no período de maio de 2001 a agosto de 2002 em Londrina, PR. As características microclimáticas avaliadas foram: radiação global, fotossintética e saldo de radiação; temperaturas do ar, da folha e do solo; e umidade do solo. O sombreamento causou significativa redução na radiação solar global incidente, na radiação fotossinteticamente ativa e na radiação líquida, e atenuou as temperaturas máximas foliar, do ar e do solo, durante o dia. O sombreamento também evitou o declínio acentuado, durante a noite, das temperaturas do ar e da folha, especialmente durante noites com geadas de radiação. Os valores de umidade do solo, na camada 0-10 cm de profundidade, foram maiores nos cafeeiros sombreados. As plantas sombreadas produzem frutos maiores em virtude da maturação mais lenta, entretanto, emitem menos ramos plagiotrópicos, com menor número de nós por ramo e poucos nós com frutos, o que resulta na redução da produção de café. Estes resultados evidenciam a necessidade de se definir uma densidade ótima de sombreamento, que não comp...

Ecophysiology of coffee growth and production

“…This should be translated into obvious advantages to the production of coffee plantations in dry and hot environments (DaMatta, 2004a;DaMatta and Ramalho, 2006), provided that shading is not excessive. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that under optimal or near-optimal edaphoclimatic conditions for coffee cultivation, such as those of the highlands (600-900 m above sea level) of southeastern Brazil, shading provides little, if any, benefit to the crop; in most cases it is even detrimental (Camargo, 1990;Campanha et al, 2004;Morais et al, 2006). Further comments on benefits and risks of using shade trees and criteria for selecting adequate species for agroforestry coffee systems are beyond the scope of this paper, so the reader is referred to comprehensive reviews by Beer (1987) and Beer et al (1998).…”

Production and vegetative growth of coffee trees under fertilization and shade levels

“…Coffee (Coffea Arabica L.) production in agroforestry systems can offer many advantages to farmers interested in environmental services such as increasing local biodiversity, erosion reduction (Donald, 2004), improvement of water storage in soils (Lin and Richards, 2007), and mitigation of climatic extremes (Lin, 2007;Morais et al, 2006). It can also result in economic advantage by the generation of extra products and by the opportunity to explore alternative markets (Donald, 2004) and reduce the biennial pattern of coffee yield (Da Matta, 2004).…”

“…One of the reasons for this choice is the growth and yield reduction observed in shaded coffee trees compared with coffee trees under full sun (Campanha et al, 2004;Morais et al, 2006). In particular, under conditions of restricted water and nutrient availability the negative effect of low radiation on production becomes more evident (Da Matta, 2004).…”

Effect of Maize Stover Application as Soil Mulch on Yield of Arabica coffee (Coffee arabica L., Rubiaceae) at Western Hararghe Zone, Eastern Ethiopia

“…But this was contrary to other results of (Wintgens, 2004;Morais et al, 2006). However, some other reports have suggested that coffee plants that receive more sunlight with judicious level of soil mulch can produce a greater number of flowers (Beer et al, 1987;Vaast et al, 2006) This is because of the more number of nodes formed per lateral or more flower buds existing at each node (Wintgens, 2004;Cannel, 1975).…”