Low water availability has a greater influence on the development of coffee seedlings than an increase in temperature

Abstract

Coffee is an important product in the world, essential for thousands of producing families. However, climate change has generated variations in temperature and precipitation that negatively impact the maturation of crops. To quantify the combined effect of drought stress and elevated temperatures, plants of Coffea arabica cv. Ouro Verde IAC H5010-5 were evaluated under the climatic conditions of La Molina, Peru, with four treatments (WT: 100% available water + air temperature (22.7°C); -WT: < 50% available water + air temperature (22.7°C); W+T: 100% available water + elevated air temperature (22.7 + 2.5°C), and –W+T: < 50% available water + elevated air temperature (22.7 + 2.5°C)). In general, morphological indices were decreased by -WT and –W+T (P≤0.05). Plants subjected to -W+T, significantly affected quality indices like root:shoot ratio, robustness, and Dickson (P≤0.05). The -WT plants had a nitrogen content of 2.46%, the highest nitrogen content compared to other treatments. Isolated and combined stress had negative differential effects on plant development, and water scarcity (as an individual factor) was the repercussion, in most cases, that was more prominent than the effect of high temperature.