Water and Soil Quality of Coffee Plantations in the Western Ghats Region, Chikkamagaluru District, Karnataka, India

Abstract

To assess water and soil quality in the Western Ghats' coffee plantations, 66 water and 224 soil samples were collected at four locations for estimation 20 parameters in water and 16 parameters in soil samples. Principal component analysis as applied to a set of chemical data obtained by the laboratory analysis of water and soil. Study locations represented arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) plantations around 50 km2 from Chikkamagaluru town. PCA showed the interrelationship of water and soil parameters for four sampling locations. The clustering of sampling location results was due to the consequence and concentration of water and soil variables. The principal component bi-plot of phosphorous, conductivity, hardness, total dissolved solids, sulphate, magnesium, and alkalinity determined water quality factors. Heavy metals, nitrogen, and total phosphorous greatly influenced the quality of soil samples at different locations.

The contents of essential and toxic metals in coffee beans and soil in Dale Woreda, Sidama Regional State, Southern Ethiopia

“…The findings of the present study revealed that the concentration of zinc in the sampled soil was lower (52.5 ± 6 mg kg −1 ) than that reported in Brazil ( Santos et al, 2009 ), and the reported Zn (83.0 ± 33.5 mg kg −1 ) concentration ( Tezottoa et al, 2012 ), reported Zn (10.0 ± 3.1 mg kg −1 ) concentrations in agricultural land in Kenya ( Ndungu et al, 2019 ) and Zn (47.14 ± 2.51 mg kg −1 ) from the Gedeo Zone, Ethiopia ( Dubale, 2021 ). On the other hand, the present study found Zn levels much higher than those reported (0.05 mg kg −1 ) in the Western Ghats Region, India ( Raghavendra & Venkatesha, 2020 ). These changes in the concentration of heavy metals could be explained by the regular practice in the study area of applying livestock manure to agricultural soil ( Basta, Ryan & Chaney, 2005 ; Hejna, Gottardo & Baldi, 2018 ).…”

“…Similarly, the findings of the present study were much lower than reported Ni (5.1 ± 3.8 mg kg −1 ) in agricultural land in Kenya ( Ndungu et al, 2019 ), reported Ni (133.1 mg kg −1 ) in Brazil farms where coffee is grown ( Tezottoa et al, 2012 ) and reported Ni (1.92 ± 1 mg kg −1 ) from Brazilian coffee cultivated areas ( Santos et al, 2009 ). However, the finding of the present study was much higher (0.05 mg kg −1 ) than that reported in the Western Ghats, India ( Raghavendra & Venkatesha, 2020 ). This is due to the use of diverse farming practices, as well as geographical, meteorological and geological differences between the study areas.…”

“…In this study, the highest mean Cd concentration was (3.36 ± 0.1 mg kg −1 ), which is much lower (124.3 mg kg −1 ) than that reported by a previous study ( Tezottoa et al, 2012 ). However, it was higher than (0.1 ± 0.03 mg kg −1 ) reported in the agricultural land of Keniya ( Ndungu et al, 2019 ) and Cd (0.001 ± 0.0009 mg kg −1 ) reported in the Western Ghats Region, India ( Raghavendra & Venkatesha, 2020 ). On the other hand, the values reported for Cd (3.49 ± 0.26 mg kg −1 ) in a previous study ( Dubale, 2021 ) are comparable with the results obtained in the present study.…”

Chromatic and morphological anomalies in gymnophionans from India

“…This chronic exposure to various pesticides might adversely affect their development and lead to anomalies in adult life stages. A very wide range of agrochemicals is used in tea and coffee plantations in the Western Ghats (Daniels 2003;Gower and Wilkinson 2005;Hegde et al 2019;Raghavendra and Venkatesha 2021), including malathion, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate. In anurans, malathion caused depigmentation in early development in Microhyla ornata under laboratory conditions (Pawar et al 1983), and chlorpyrifos in environmentally relevant concentrations causes anophthalmy in Dryophytes chrysoscelis (Britson and Threlkeld 1998).…”