Response to Magnesium of Intensively Managed Sun-grown Coffee

Abstract

The effect of magnesium on the yield of coffee grown in the acid Los Guineos clay was investigated and the following conclusions were drawn from the results: 1. Magnesium applications to coffee trees controlled leaf-magnesium deficiency. 2. Magnesium was responsible for significantly increasing coffee yields. Coffee trees supplied with magnesium produced, on the average, 7.5 hundredweights more marketable coffee per acre than the trees not receiving magnesimn. 3. Highest coffee yields were associated with high leaf-magnesium contents. 4. Highly significant correlations were found between relative yields and leaf-magnesium values in both summer and fall leaf samples. 5. The data indicate that magnesium content of coffee leaves can be used to predict relative yields.