Carbon balance in organic conilon coffee intercropped with tree species and banana

Abstract

Over the last decade, conilon coffee (Coffea canephora) in consortium with wood trees has been established to improve environmental conditions. Little is known about how individual wood trees and banana affect soil quality when intercropped with conilon coffee. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impacts of intercropping organic conilon coffee with different wood tree species and banana on C balance. Five cultivation systems including conilon coffee monoculture and intercropped with Inga edulis, Gliricidia sepium, BRS Japira banana (Musa sp.), or Bactris gasipaes were studied in a randomized complete block design, with four replicates at the south of Espírito Santo State, Brazil. A primary forest fragment adjacent to the experiment was also evaluated for comparison with the consortium. Samples of topsoil (0 to 10 cm) were collected in 2016 to evaluate the total organic C and total N. Soil temperature and moisture at 0 to 5 cm depth and the CO2 emission were measured monthly over one year. The species planted with the conilon coffee promoted a 5.52% decrease in the soil temperature and a 17% increase in the soil moisture content. They also promoted an increase in annual C balance, especially intercropped with Gliricidia and Inga (4.70 and 3.56 Mg ha-1, respectively), with a substantial increase in the soil total organic C and total N in both systems.