Effect of Coffee Residue on the Growth of Several Crop Species

Transcription

1 J. Weed Sci. Tech. Vol. 42 (1) (1997) Effect of Coffee Residue on the Growth of Several Crop Species Makoto Kitou*, and Shigekata Yoshida* Key Words: allelopathy, coffee residue, crop growth, soil chemical properties Introduction Increasing coffee production inevitably produces a large amount of coffee residue. This residue has recently been utilized partly as the main- or a secondary-material for manure, yet, information about the effect of coffee residue on crop growth is scarce. Our Studies indicated that the incorporation and mulching of the residue did not affect the growth of soybean and broadbean did inhibit weed growth. This inhibition was apparently due to the effect of allelochemicals of the residue9). Further studies with the water extracts of coffee residue have clearly indicated that it has the ability to inhibit seed germination and root growth of some plant speciess, and it is therefore considered to be a useful organic matter rich in herbicidal effects. The objective of this research was to examine the effect on the growth of 12 species of * Nagoya University Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, ** Present Address; Faculty of Agriculture, Kobe University Rokkodai 1-1, Nada, Kobe, Japan (T 657) crops grow in pots filled with a soil containing coffee residue. Materials and Methods The study was conducted with three replication under glass house conditions at Nagoya University Farm from November, 1991 to March, Twelve crop species weme used: azuki bean(vigna angularis), soybean (Glycine max), broadbean (Vicia faba), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), white clover (Trifolium repens), wheat (Triticum aestivum), corn (Zea mays), Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), shungiku (Chrysanthemum coronarium), Komatsuna (Brassica camp estris) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The potting medium was prepared by mixing 1.5kg of airdried soil, which had been passed through a 5mm mesh sieve, with fertilizers (0.5g of urea, 2.Og of super phosphate and 0.5g of potassium chloride). Each 1/10, 000a pot was filled with the potting medium. In the case of broadbean, pots were filled with soil at the rate of 4kg (1/5000a) and fertilizers at the rate of 1.Og of urea, 3.Og of super phosphate and 1.Og of potassium chloride. the coffee residue was then incorporated into the pots at there levels, Og, 15g and 30g (0%, 1% and 2%, respectively, on a weight percent basis). The constituents of the pots were mixed well before seeds were sown. Five to 100 seeds of each crop were sown in each pot. The emerging seedilings were thin-

2 26 J. Weed Sci. Tech. Vol. 42 (1997) ned out at 1 week after sowing and allowed to grow for several weeks under the condition in the glass house. All pots were irrigated daily with tap water. Sampling was done 3 to 7 weeks after sowing. Plant growth and nodulation were evaluated through dry weights and fresh weights, respectively. Table 1 shows the cultivation period and the number of plants per pot for the tested crops. Unplanted 1/10,000a pots were prepared in the same manner to determine the effects of the incorporation of coffee residue on the soil chemical properties. Three replications of the unplanted pots containing coffee residue at the rate of Og, 15g and 30g per pot were also made on 30 December, Soil chemical properties of these these pots were evaluated at 3 and 6 weeks after addition of the residue. The chemical properties were determined on the basis of standard methods previously reported7), and were the same as those reported earliere. Results On the basis of their response to coffee residue the tested crops were classified into 3 groups as shown in Fig. 1. The growth of crops in group 1, namely, azuki bean, soybean, and lettuce significantly (p<0.05) increased with the incorporation of 1% of the residue, while the growth of crops in group 2, alfalfa, broadbean and komatsuna, was little affected. Though the difference between the 0% and the 1% level was not significant, the top growth of broadbean and komatsuna tended to decrease in the treatment with 2% of the residue. The crops in group 3, white clover, wheat, corn, Italian ryegrass, shungiku and tomato showed a significant (p<0.05) negative growth response with the increasing rates of coffee residue added. Especially, the growth of Italian ryegrass was markedly inhibited In the treatment with the 1% added. Table 3 shows fresh weights of nodules per pot of the leguminous crops; poor nodulation was found in all the crops. This poor nodulation may be due to the effect of nitrogen fertilizer applied in the experiment. Azuki bean, broadbean, soybean, and white clover had higher rates of nodulation with the increasing rates of coffee residue incorporated. However, nodulation was not observed in alfalfa plants by any treatments, Table 4 shows the chemical properties of the potted medium at 3 and 6 weeks after Table 1 Cultivation period and the number of plants per pot of tested crops

3 Kitou and Yoshida: Effect of Coffee Residue on Plant Growth 27 Azuki bean Soybean Lettuce Alfalfa Broadbean Komatsuna Tomato Shunqiku White clover Corn Italian ryegrass Wheat Treatment Fig. 1 Growth response crops species grown under soil incorporated with coffee residue Top Root a. b. c: significant difference at p=0.05 I: standard deviation

4 28 J. Weed Sci. Tech. Vol. 42 (1997) Table 2 Chemical properties of coffee residue Table 3 Effect of coffee residue on the nodulation of leguminous crops incorporation of the coffee residue. The contents of exchangeable K and Mg in the treatments with 1% and 2% levels of the coffee residue were slightly higher than those in the treatment with 0% level (control) at the two times sampled. the ph values in treatments with 1% and 2% levels were also higher than that in the control. The showed further that incorporation of the residue had little effect on the concentration of exchangeable Ca, perhaps due to the minimal Ca content in the residue (Table 2). Conversely, concentrations of inorganic N and available P2O5 in the treatments with 1% and 2% levels were markedly lower than those with the 0% level. Discussion The crops in group 3 of this study showed decreasing growth with increasing rates of incorporation of coffee residue. The growth of tomato and shungiku belonging to group 2 also tended to decrease as the amount of residue increased. It is well documented that crop growth is inhibited when crops are planted immediately after the incorporation of fresh organic matter. Reports further indicate that this inhibition is mainly due to three factors in the rhizosphere: 1. nitrogen immobilization, 2. multiplication of plant pathogenic fungi, and 3. release of phytotoxins derived from fresh organic matter3)-5), The incorporation of coffee residue leads to a decrease in the content of inorganic N in soil (Table 4), due to the lower C/N ratio (about 25.0) in the residue. However, it has been observed that the supply of inorganic N converted from organic N inorganic matter is sufficient to maintain the crop growth, although the inorganic N content in soil is lower than 51 mg kg-1 (about 20 mg kg-1). This implies that the immobilizaion of N in the rhizosphere is not mainly responsible for the reduction in crop growth. Moreover, white clover exhibited a negative crop growth response in spite of the improvement of nodulation by the incorporation of coffee residue. Conversely, the growth of nonnodulated alfalfa and lettuce increased with higher rates of the residue. These findings imply that the limitation on plant growth does not depend primarily on the limitation of the supply of N to plants. Table 4 shows that the soils to which the residue had been added maintained the available P2O5 content at higher levels than the deficient level (about mg kg-1) for many plant species13). It should also be noted that none of the tested species suffered from any plant disease throughout the study. Rizvi et al. Claimed that the caffeine in coffee seed elicits a selective phytotoxic reac-

5 Kitou and Yoshida: Effect of Coffee Residue on Plant Growth 29 Table 4 Chemical properties of potting medium at 3 and 6 weeks after treatment tion12). We have also reported the inhibition of seed germination and root elongation of certain plant species when treated with water extract of coffee residues. Hence, it can be assumed that the inhibition of the growth of crops belonging to group 3 may be due to the effect of caffeine or any other phytotoxin originating from coffee residue. The enhancement of the growth of crops belonging to group 1 with the incorporation of the residue may be due to improvement in the physical properties of soil, such soil texture, moisture condition and aeration2). The results of this investigation demonstrated the potential for use of coffee residue not only as organic matter but also as an agent for weed control in fields cultivated with crops tolerant to phytotoxin. References 1) Ae, N Response of soybean growth to soil aeration, relevant to crop diversification in paddy fields. Soil Phys. Cond. Plant Growth, Jpn., 51, 3-8, (in Japanese) 2) Agnew, M.L., and Carrow, R.N Soil compaction and moisture stress preconditioning is Kentucky bluegrass. 1. soil aeration, water use, and root responses. Agron. J., 77, ) Cook, R.J., Haglund W.A Wheat yield depression associated with conservation tillage caused by root pathogens in the soil not phytotoxins from the straw. Soil Biol. Biochem., 23, ) Honeycutt, C.W., L. Potaro.1990 Field evaluation of heat units for predicting crop residue carbon and nitrogen mineralization. Soil, 125, Plant and 5) Kimber, R.W.L Phytotoxicity from plant residue, III. The relative effect of toxins and nitrogen immobilization on germination and growth of wheat. Plant and Soil, 38, ) Kitou, M Study on allelopathy of coffee residue, Effect of coffee residue and soil amended with coffee residue on germination and root elongation Weed Res. (Japan), of some kind of plants. 40 (suppl.), (In Japanese) 7) Kitou MS. Yoshida Changes of chemical composition of plant culture soils in composting process of some plant residues and responses of plant growth to plant culture soils. Jpn. J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 64, 1-8 (in Japanese) 8) Kitou, M., S. Yoshida Mulching effect of plant residues on soybean growth and soil chemical properties. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 40, ) Kitou, M., S. Okuno, and Y. Hamada, 1995.

6 30 J. Weed Sci. Tech. Vol. 42 (1997) Study on the agricultural utilization of coffee residue. Utilization of coffee residue for weed control. Asoci. Sci. Inter. Coffee, 16, ) Omura, H., Muroi, E.Sasaki, I., and Tochigi, H Hydrolytic enzyme activity related to decomposition of organic nitrogen in tomato greenhouse field. Jap. J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 59, (in Japanese) 11) Rickerl, D.H., E.A. Curl, J.T. Touchton, and W. B. Gordon Crop mulch effects on Rhizoctonia soil infestation and disease severity in conservation-tilled cotton. Soil Biol. Biochem., 24, ) Rizvi, S.J.H., D. Mukerji, and S.N. Mathur Selective phyto-toxicity of 1, 3, 7- trimethylxanthine between Phaseolus mungo and some weeds. Agric. Biol. Chem., 45, ) Yasuda, T., Y. Fujii, and T. Shibuya Difference of plants growth and phosphorus uptake at low phosphorus condition. Jpn. J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 58, (in Japanese)