Description
As one of the most widely consumed beverage and traded commodity globally, coffee production is the mainstay of over 100 million people worldwide, with producers primarily located in over 70 (sub-) tropical regions worldwide. Many of the coffee producing regions are also biodiversity hotspots, where farming and cultivation practices have direct impacts on the biodiversity and climate of the surrounding regions.The current cultivation practices in most of the conventional coffee plantations are typically intensive and costly, with a heavy reliance on pesticides, chemical fertilisers and irrigation. The aim of this project is the investigate alternative field management strategies to both reduce the environmental impact of coffee farming, as well as improve soil and crop quality. In collaboration with a university partner in Brazil, we have set up experimental areas in 2 farms representing distinct realities of coffee cultivation and evaluate 8 different field management strategies. Samples are collected at regular intervals over 2 years to determine the fertility, biological activities, physico-chemical properties, as well as soil microbial communities. Using metagenomic approaches, a key part of the study is to better understand how different field management strategies may influence the microbial composition, and as a result function of the soil microbiome in supporting the coffee plant. The overall plant health, yield and quality of the coffee will also be determined as part of the evaluation of the effectiveness of the respective field management strategies, with the ultimate aim of establishing a more sustainable and climate resilient approach to coffee cultivation.
| Period | Nov 2022 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Copenhagen Bioscience Conferences: Plant-microbe Interactions |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | 24 |
| Location | Copenhagen, DenmarkShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |