Effects of Water Regimes on Flowering, Yield Components and Quality of Arabica Coffee

Abstract

The study emphasized on the effects of water regimes on flowering and yield components of arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.). Five years old coffee trees were planted in 20 gallons plastic containers under greenhouse condition. Soil water was kept at moisture content of 100%FC, 75%FC, 50%FC, 25%FC and at the first sign of wilting (FSW). The watering were calculated from water balance of the soil programme. No effect of water stress on vegetative growth was found on all treatments. However, in term of physiology, the water regime of 100%FC resulted higher leaf water potential, high number of stomata and total chlorophyll content. Trees that experienced to soil moisture content at FSW flowered more time than that of 75, 100, 50 and 25%FC respectively. Water regimes also had effect on duration of fruiting. Watering at 50%FC, the time from first re-watering to fruit setting and ripening were longer than other treatments. Several set of fruit ripening occurred during the 11 weeks. At 25%FC and FSW treatments, harvesting finished within, 5.37 and 5.56 times which were higher that of the other treatments. Moreover, the highest number of cherries per branch and number of cherries per node were shown in the last treatment. Yield component showed no significant difference in term of number of node and number of bearing node per branch. However, the highest 100 cherry weight was achieved from the 100%FC treatment. The trees irrigated at the first sign of wilting showed the highest number of fresh fruit per tree, but irregular ripening was observed. Harvesting therefore regimed more labor, which attributed to high cost of production. In contrast, watering at 75 and 100%FC significantly reduced number of flowering cycles, whereas the number of fresh fruit per tree was also reduced. However, these treatments showed the highest fresh fruit weight per 100 fruits, green bean weight per 100 beans and percent A grade of green bean. Finally, 75%FC watering is recommended because it reduces water consumption and lower harvesting cost by reducing the number of harvesting cycle.