Effects of Lime on Phosphorus Availability and Nutrient Uptake of Hybrid Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Seedlings Under Acidic Nursery Soil

Abstract

Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is one of the major cash crops which were widely grown in west, south and south west parts of Ethiopia. There is wider genetic diversity in the country but the average clean coffee production is very low 0.7 ton/ha compared with other coffee producing countries. The low production was arises from erroneous management of the plant during the initial stage of establishment by using of improper nursery growing media and other field managements. The research was conducted at Jimma Agricultural Research Center nursery site in lata house to evaluate the effects of lime on the availability of phosphorus fertilizer and nutrient uptakes of coffee seedlings. The treatments consists five lime rates (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 g) 2.5 kg-1 and four phosphorus mineral fertilizer rates (0, 400, 600 and 800 mg) 2.5 kg-1 of soil. The experiment was arranged in factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. Soil samples were taken before planting and after harvesting. Representative leaf samples were taken and both soil and leaf samples were analyzed. The result reviled that applications of 10g lime and 800 mg P rates improves the soil parameters and nutrient uptake of coffee seedlings under nursery conditions.