Does Soil Liming Compensate for Low Organic Matter Content: a Comparison Between Substrate Prepared by Farmers and Limed Soil for Growth of Coffee Seedlings (Coffea arabica)

• Published in: Journal of soil science and plant nutrition Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 5871 - 5886
• Main Authors: García-Pérez, José Antonio, Alarcón-Gutiérrez, Enrique
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acidic soils; Acidification; Acidity; Agriculture; Biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Coffea arabica; Coffee; Diameters; Ecology; Environment; Farmers; Fertilizers; Leaf area; Leaves; Life Sciences; Lime; Liming; Nutrient availability; Organic matter; Original Paper; pH effects; Plant Sciences; Plants; Plants (botany); Seedlings; Seeds; Soil lime; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Stems; Substrates; Toxicity; Mexico; Soil acidity; pH; Farmers; Seedling growth; Soil liming
• ISSN: 0718-9508; 0718-9516
• DOI: 10.1007/s42729-023-01446-6

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that farmer-prepared substrate is superior alternative to liming for growing higher-quality coffee seedlings in highly acidic soils. A completely randomized design was applied to compare the growth of coffee seedlings using seeds of Coffea arabica L. var. Colombia yellow fruit. Treatments were control soil ( Control-t ) prepared with soil from a local coffee plot (pH = 3.99), limed soil ( Limed-t ) prepared by mixing control soil and lime with a pH adjusted to 7.0, and substrate prepared by farmers ( OM-t ) with a pH of 7.0. Growth variables and the Dickson quality index ( DQI ) were measured. Plant height, canopy cover, leaf number, stem diameter, leaf area, distance between nodes, primary root length, and dry secondary root and stem biomass showed the highest and statistically similar values in OM-t and Control-t compared to Limed-t . Differences between treatments were as follows: dry leaf biomass in OM-t was 1.41 times higher than in Control-t and 2.84 times higher than in Limed-t and dry primary and secondary root biomass in OM-t was 1.68 and 2.24 times higher than in Control-t and 3.08 and 4.3 times higher than in Limed-t , respectively. The DQI was higher in plants in OM-t followed by plants in Control-t and Limed-t , respectively. There was superior growth and seedling quality in the substrate prepared by farmers compared to the acid soil amended with lime. The acid soil from the field limited leaf and root biomass, although it produced plants of acceptable quality. Liming as a means of correcting soil acidity and promoting better nutrient availability was insufficient to offset the mineral deficiencies in the soil.