Abstract
Nutrients are essential for plant growth and development, and soil nutrient ratios play key roles in coffee quality. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of soil nutrient ratios on the quality of wild Arabica coffee in Ethiopia. Results revealed that the balance between the soil nutrients was well correlated with coffee quality attributes. The balance between magnesium and calcium (Mg:Ca) and the balance between nitrogen and phosphorus (N:P) were found to be very important factors for bean size. Increase in Ca relative to Mg increased bean size, and vice versa. The higher the concentration of available P in relation to soil organic carbon (P:C) or total N (P:N), the better the cup quality of the coffee, and vice versa. The Mg:K ratio, P:N ratio, P:C ratio and P:Zn ratio were very important factors for cup quality. Although the ratio between Mg and K was important for cup quality, it was not apparent for bean size. The ratio between Ca and Mg was of no or little importance for coffee cup quality as opposed to that of bean size. Therefore, coffee growers should make careful decisions depending on the demands of the buyers/consumers and environmental requirements. Key words: Arabica coffee, bean size, cup quality, coffee forest, nutrient ratios.
Highlights
Mineral nutrients are required for normal plant growth and development
Results showed that the balance between some soil nutrients significantly correlated with bean size distribution of wild Arabica coffee
The ratio between magnesium relative to calcium (Mg) and K (Mg:K), which was important for cup quality (Table 3), was not found to be important for bean size (Table 1)
Summary
Mineral nutrients are required for normal plant growth and development. Mineral nutrition refers to the supply, availability, absorption, translocation, and utilization of inorganically formed elements for growth and development of crop plants (Fageria, 2009). Nutrients are the environmental factor that most strongly constrains terrestrial productivity (Lambers et al, 2008) Plants differ in their requirement for nutrients and in their capacity to acquire nutrients from the soil (Koerselman and Meuleman, 1996; Lambers et al, 2008; Martins et al, 2015). These nutrients are essential because they have specific metabolic functions in plants (Hopkins and Hüner, 2009). Macronutrients are required in large quantities and associated with their role in making up the bulk of the carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids of plant cells, whereas micronutrients are required in small amounts and mostly participate in the enzyme activation process of the plant (Barker and Pilbeam, 2007; Fageria, 2009)
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