Vegetative growth and photosynthesis in coffee plants under different watering and fertilization managements in Yunnan, SW China

Abstract

In a field experiment Coffea arabica L. was subjected to various moisture and fertilizer regimes in Simao, Yunan, SW China. The experimental treatments consisted of eight factorial combinations of two fertilization levels (high and low) and four watering treatments applied in the dry season: application of dry rice straw mulch, drip irrigation, mulching plus drip irrigation on the soil surface, and control (no mulching or irrigation). The growth of the coffee plants was monitored throughout the course of a full year. Two clear growth peaks were detected (one at the beginning and one in the middle of the wet season) in plants subjected to all treatments, and the growth rhythm of coffee plants was not regulated by extrinsic abiotic factors. High fertilization resulted in a significantly higher relative growth rates for both height and length of the branches during the growth peaks than the low fertilization treatment. In the dry season, increasing the soil moisture contents by irrigation and/or mulching enhanced the plants’ gas exchange, but the soil water status had no significant effects on the internal fluorescence parameters of photosystem 2. More fertilized plants had a greater ability to acclimate to high-irradiance environments than the lightly fertilized plants, showing significant lower diurnal photoinhibition, associated with higher energy utilization through photochemistry and energy dissipation through the xanthophyll cycle. Hence the wet season is the optimum period for photosynthetic carbon fixation and vegetative growth of coffee plants. Higher than routinely applied levels of fertilization are required to optimize the coffee plants’ photosynthetic acclimation and growth in the studied environment. Both soil moisture conserving practices tested, mulching and drip irrigation, had significant effects on the growth and photosynthesis of the coffee plants, but the former was more practical than the latter.