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COFFEE

A New Method to Assess Competition in Coffee Clonal Trials with Single-Tree Plots in Côte d'Ivoire

^a CIRAD-CP 01 BP 6483 Abidjan 01, Côte d'Ivoire
^b CIRAD-CP, TA 80/03, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. This work is the result of a cooperation between the Centre National de Recherche Agronomique of Côte d'Ivoire (CNRA) and the Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement–Cultures pérennes (CIRAD–CP)

Corresponding author (christian.cilas{at}cirad.fr)

A new method is proposed for the assessment of competition in clonal trials with completely randomized single-tree plots, without needing to choose a covariable a priori linked to competition. This method is applied to a coffee clonal trial planted in a completely randomized single-tree plot design located in Côte d'Ivoire. Microenvironmental effects were first taken into account using the conventional Papadakis method. The competition effect (C_k) of each clone (k) was then estimated as the influence of its presence on the residual value, after removal of the clonal effect, of its neighbors. Residuals were thus modeled as a linear regression of the neighboring clones' C value. Competition effects were shown this way to explain 4% of the residual yield in young trees and 10% in adult trees. Several clones had C values significantly different from 0. Some were identified as aggressive for their neighbors (C < 0), others as stimulating (i.e., promoting yield, C > 0). Architecture and vigor variables that were likely to be related to the C value of clones were then sought. For young trees, vigor, estimated by stem diameter, was best correlated to competition effects: vigorous clones were more aggressive than others. When trees became adult, the length of the orthotropic internodes (L_ort) was the trait that most effectively explained (42%) the competition effect of clones: the shorter the internodes, the less aggressive was the clone. In the future, L_ort may thus be used in a selection index to prevent from selecting aggressive coffee clones that would undergo their own aggressiveness when grown alone in plantations.

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