STUDIES ON COFFEE SOIL NUTRIENT STATUS OF TAMIL NADU

S.B. HAREESH¹, P. SHIVAPRASAD²*, N. HARIYAPPA³, N. CHANDRASHEKAR⁴, RAJIBPATI⁵, PRAFULLAKUMARI⁶, SOWMYA⁷, S.A. NADAF⁸, M.V. DSOUZA⁹, R.S. DEEPAK¹⁰, S. PARVATHY¹¹, S. BELLAKA^12
1Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
²Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
³Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
⁴Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
⁵Coffee Research Substation (CRSS), Chettalli, 571248, Kodagu District, Karnataka, India
⁶Coffee Research Substation (CRSS), Chettalli, 571248, Kodagu District, Karnataka, India
⁷Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
⁸Coffee Research Substation (CRSS), Chettalli, 571248, Kodagu District, Karnataka, India
⁹Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
¹⁰Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
¹¹Regional Centre, ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Bengaluru, 560024, Karnataka, India
¹²Regional Centre, ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Bengaluru, 560024, Karnataka, India
* Corresponding Author : shivaprasadccri@gmail.com

Received : 02-05-2022     Accepted : 27-05-2022     Published : 30-05-2022
Volume : 14     Issue : 5       Pages : 11298 - 11301
Int J Agr Sci 14.5 (2022):11298-11301

Keywords : Coffee, Soil fertility, Major nutrient, Secondary nutrient, Micronutrient
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : The authors are thankful to Sri D.H. Venkatesh and K. Sujatha, Regional Centre, ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Bengaluru, 560024, Karnataka, India, for their support in executing soil analysis of secondary (Calcium and Magnesium) and micronutrients (Copper and Zinc). Authors also thank Dr Jayarama, Dr Y. Raghuramulu, Dr Suryaprakash Rao, Dr A.N. Manjunath, Dr J.S. Nagaraj, Dr Chandrappa, Dr Prasanna, Smt Manonmani, for all the support and help extended to us in conducting these research studies. Authors are also thankful to Central Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Station, Chikkamagalur, 577 117, Karnataka, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Coffee as a beverage is grown in few states of India like in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and in north eastern states. Among them in Tamil Nadu, it is cultivated in a tradition pattern by following regular cultural practices. Soil fertility is crucial to know the nutrient requirement of the crops. Soil test based nutrient management will increase sustained crop productivity there by helping to save the environment. In order to know the fertility status of the soil this study was carried out and observed that soils cropped to coffee in the traditional coffee growing areas of Tamil Nadu indicate soil acidity, deficiency of phosphorus, magnesium, sulphur and boron as limiting factors to achieve sustainable yields of coffee. Eighty five percent of samples representing the coffee growing regions of Tamil Nadu were acidic in reaction and among seven coffee growing districts of Tamil Nadu, Nilgiri was found to have higher number of acidic soils. The phosphorus nutrient management also needs attention to improve the deficiency of the nutrient found in 27 percent of the samples representing the state. Deficiency of available magnesium is found to be widespread (55 %) in soils of all the seven districts. Available sulphur content of the soils collected from the traditional coffee growing districts indicated deficiency ranging from 2 to 69 percent of the samples. Deficiency of available boron varied from 10 to 49% among the districts. The soil fertility evaluation of the soils cropped to coffee in the traditional coffee growing areas of Tamil Nadu enabled to know the limiting factors and to draw site specific nutrient management packages to address the problems of each hobli, taluk and district

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