Cordia alliodora and Erythrina poeppigiana spacing effects on the amount of E. poeppigiana pollarding residues in a coffee plantation

In 1983, an experiment was established at CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica, using a parallel-row systematic spacing design to study the effects of competition on the growth and production of shade trees (Cordia alliodora and Erythrina poeppigiana) and an understorey crop of coffee (Coffea arabica). An increase in the stocking rate of C. alliodora from 100 to 260 trees ha-1 reduced pollarding residues from E. poeppigiana (275 trees ha-1) from 4,6 to 2,9 ha-1 y r-1 (average 1988-1991; oven dry). This stocking increase reduced pollarding residues by 30 percent after the "dry season" and by 45 percent after the "wet season". The different response was apparently due to competition for light during the period when C. alliodora was in full leaf. E. poeppigiana stocking rates had no effect. The percentage of leaves obtained from wet-season pollarding increased from 39 percent in 1988 to 53 percent in 1991, possibly as a consequence of the increase with time in C. alliodora competition for light. No such temporal change in residue composition was observed for dry-season pollarding, with the proportion of leaves remaining at 48 ¦ 2 percent, nor was any effect of stocking rate on residue composition observed. The consequences for coffee production of reduced pollarding residues from E. poeppigiana due to higher C. alliodora stocking do not appear to be critical on this site but could have consequences for E. poeppigiana survival and hence for coffee management.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	106621 Powell, M.H. eds., 47630 Beer, J.W., 131136 Westley, S.B., CATIE - Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza Turrialba, Costa Rica autor/a 3977, 15141 Nitrogen Fixing Tree Association, Hawaii (EUA), International Conference Erythrina in the New and Old Worlds Turrialba (Costa Rica) 19-23 Oct 1992
Format:	biblioteca
Published:	Hawaii (EUA) 1993
Subjects:	CORDIA ALLIODORA, ERYTHRINA POEPPIGIANA, COFFEA ARABICA, ESPACIAMIENTO, ARBOLES DE SOMBRA, COMPETENCIA BIOLOGICA, SUELO, CATIE, COSTA RICA,
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