Impact of management intensity and shading level on growth and yield of coffee grown under Cordia africana
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Date
2011-09Author
Shibairo, S. I.
Chemining'wa, G.N.
Odeny, D.A.
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study was conducted to investigate the impact of management intensity
and shading level of Cordia africana on growth, clean bean yield and % grade
'A' beans of coffee (variety K7). The trials were set up at the Coffee Research
Foundation (CRF) demonstration farm and two smallholder coffee farms in
Namwela, Bungoma county. The three farms represented high, medium and
low management intensity treatments, respectively. The distance from the
shade tree trunk (0-2.5m, 2.5 - 5 m, 5 -7.5 m and full sun) represented different
shading level treatments. The objective was to assess the extent to which
shading could be used to complement or offset low intensity management.
High management intensity coffee farm was subjected to all agronomic
practices recommended by CRF, medium intensity management farm received
minimal amounts of inputs (fertilizers and pesticides) while low management
intensity farm was not supplied with external inputs. Management intensity
and shade level had significant effects on length of primary branches, number
of nodes, clean bean yield and % Grade 'A' beans. Clean coffee yields were
significantly higher under high management intensity than under medium and
low management intensities. Shaded coffee had significantly higher clean
bean yields than unshaded coffee under medium and low management
intensities. There were no bean grade differences among shading levels in high
and low management intensities, while higher shading levels (0-2.5 m, 2.5-5
m) ) had significantly higher % Grade 'A' coffee beans than unshaded trees.
These findings suggest that shading can be used to enhance coffee yields
without loss in quality, especially under smallholder low input conditions.
Citation
Optimimization of Agricultural Value Chains for sustainable DevelopmentSponsorhip
National Council of Science and Technology , The Kenya Seed CompanyPublisher
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nairobi
Description
Impact of management intensity and shading level on growth and yield of coffee grown under Cordia africana