Progress of Soil Fertility and Soil Health Management Research for Arabica Coffee Production in Ethiopia

Anteneh Netsere,Bikila Takala

doi:10.11648/j.plant.20210903.15

Abstract

Soil degradation is one of Ethiopia's most severe concerns, contributing for the country's low coffee production. Researchers have been conducted by different organizations for the past five decades to ameliorate the challenges. The goal of this review was to summarize and document major research achievements recorded so far and recommend future research directions. As a result, mixing coffee pulp and husk in the composting pile with organic elements like farm yard manure and leguminous plants generates nutritionally high-quality compost in 45 days. In terms of increasing coffee yield, decomposed coffee husk (DCH) was found to be superior to Sesbaniasesban compost. Compost application rates of 5 to 10 tons ha-1 (2 to 4 kg tree-1 in dry weight base) and an equal proportion of soil incorporation and surface (50:50%) application techniques were found to be superior in increasing coffee yield. 50% recommended NP mineral fertilizer (RMF) (172 and 77 kg ha-1 NP, respectively) + 50% recommended (DCH (10 ton ha-1 or 4 kg tree-1 on a dry weight basis), 50% RMF + 75% DCH, and Desmodiumspp (green manure crop) + RMF (172 and 63 kg ha-1 NP, respectively) significantly (P≤0.05) promote clean coffee yield at Agaro, Haru and Jimma, respectively. Forest soil or blends of top soils, compost and sand in 3:1:0 and 2:1:1 ratio, or organic manure and top soil mixture in 1:4, 2:4 and 3:4 ratios, produced strong and healthy coffee seedlings. A nursery pot amended with 750 mg P pot-1 (2.5 kg soil) and 2.31 g lime + 250 mg P pot-1 and 10 g lime + 800 mg P pot-1 produced released pure line and hybrid seedlings, respectively, with superior dry matter yield at Jimma. Similarly, at Haru, an application of 4 g pot-1 lime + 12.5 g pot-1 DCH and 18.75 g pot-1 DCH was a promising ameliorating management for acid soil for production of vigorous coffee seedlings for field planting. Future research should concentrate on evaluating other organic inputs and combined reclamation of lime-mineral fertilizer-compost, frequency of application, economic benefits, and long-term effects on soil physicochemical properties, coffee yield and bean quality, and establish cost effective soil fertility management in coffee-growing areas of the country. Furthermore, timely revision and calibration of mineral fertilizer recommendations made in the past with newly released coffee genotypes has become critical.

Highlights

One of the most difficult problems in Ethiopia's coffee growing areas is declining soil fertility
Composting of Coffee Processing By-Product An experiment was carried out to determine the best combination of coffee pulp and organic sources, such as farmyard manure (FYM) and leguminous plant material (LM) (Desmodium spp.), to speed up the composting process and produce compost with a better nutritional composition
C/N ratio of all piles decreased at the end of 49 days of composting, indicating mineralization of organic matter and adequate evolution of microbial composting process (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

One of the most difficult problems in Ethiopia's coffee growing areas is declining soil fertility. The soils have been subjected to nutrient leaching over time, resulting in low organic matter content and the need for careful management to support good crop yields. The country's average productivity of the crop is very low, estimated at about 0.7 ton ha-1 green coffee bean [6], necessitating much more vigorous technological intervention in the sector [22, 25]. Coffee is a crop that requires a lot of nutrients. According to reports, producing a ton of Arabica coffee beans removes 135, 16 and 120 kg of N, P and Kfrom the soil [32]. The crop's nutrient requirements are met by the soil or organic and/or mineral fertilizers. One of the most important factors influencing coffee plant productivity is nutrient management [31, 32]

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Results

Conclusion