Coffee crop response to zinc fertilization in soils of the Colombian coffee region

Abstract

Even though Zn is an essential micronutrient for coffee nutrition due to its direct effect on plant growth and because Zn deficiencies are more and more frequent, research related to this nutrient in coffee in Colombia is still little. For these reasons, aiming to determine the Colombian variety coffee crop response to zinc fertilization (Zn) in three sites of the Colombian coffee region, the supply of three Zn rates applied to soil in the form of ZnO (5, 10 and 20 kg/ha), and three doses of Zn quelate applied via foliar (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 kg/ha), plus a control without Zn were evaluated. The research was carried out in three sites: Venecia, Gigante and Timbio. During the first year, soil treatments were applied two and eight months after trimming, and from the second year, the edaphic application was carried out every six months simultaneously with the NPK recommendation according to soil analysis. Foliar application was carried out at 60 and 90 days after the blooming peak for both main harvest and the “mitaca” of each site. Coffee berries yield annually and accumulated over four years were analyzed. For the study conditions the Zn application both edaphic and foliar did not affect significantly coffee yield but did increase the Zn contents at soil and leaves.