ABSTRACT 

Understanding the effects of soil health (SH) on the quality of high-value crops such as coffee may enable farmers to receive financial benefits prompted by product differentiation and price premiums. This study assessed the existence and nature of the relationship between coffee cup quality and SH. Soil and coffee seed samples were collected from 68 member-farms of a cooperative participating in a high-quality coffee value chain and 67 non–member-farms located across six municipalities in Cauca, Colombia, and 117 farms across two municipalities in Antioquia, Colombia. Elevation was recorded on each farm. Soil samples were tested for 13 SH indicators including wet aggregate stability, available water capacity, active carbon, organic matter (OM), protein, respiration, pH, P, K, Mg, Mn, Fe, and Zn. Coffee samples were tested by professional cuppers for physical, granulometric, and sensorial traits including fragrance/aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, uniformity, sweetness, clean cup, and balance. Pearson correlation tests, principal component analysis, and canonical correlation analysis were conducted on all measured variables for Cauca and Antioquia separately and combined. Results show that coffee quality and sensorial traits tended toward a negative relationship with physical and biological SH, primarily with the indicators available water capacity and OM and the labile OM-related soil properties active carbon and respiration, whereas chemical indicators variably correlated with coffee quality. This suggests that coffee may be similar to wine grapes in that high-quality products not necessarily derived from soils with high values of SH indicators. The results of this study can guide further work to identify suitable management strategies that maximize coffee quality without significantly jeopardizing production or the environment.

中文翻译：

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将咖啡与土壤联系起来：土壤健康可以提高哥伦比亚的咖啡杯质量吗？

摘要 

了解土壤健康（SH）对咖啡等高价值农作物质量的影响，可使农民从产品差异化和价格溢价中获得经济利益。这项研究评估了咖啡杯质量和SH之间关系的存在和性质。从参与高质量咖啡价值链的合作社的68个成员农场和哥伦比亚Cauca的六个城市的67个非成员农场以及哥伦比亚Antioquia的两个城市的117个农场收集了土壤和咖啡种子样品。记录每个农场的海拔。测试了土壤样品的13种SH指标，包括湿集料的稳定性，可用水量，活性炭，有机质（OM），蛋白质，呼吸作用，pH，P，K，Mg，Mn，Fe和Zn。咖啡样品由专业的拔罐机进行了物理，粒度和感官测试，包括香味/香气，风味，余味，酸度，身体，均匀度，甜度，干净的杯子和平衡性。对Cauca和Antioquia的所有测量变量分别进行了Pearson相关检验，主成分分析和典范相关分析，并进行了组合。结果表明咖啡的质量和感官特征与物理和生物SH呈负相关关系，主要与可用水容量和OM指标以及与OM相关的不稳定的土壤特性活性碳和呼吸作用有关，而化学指标与咖啡质量有不同的相关性。这表明咖啡可能与酿酒葡萄相似，因为高质量产品不一定来自具有高SH指标值的土壤。这项研究的结果可以指导进一步的工作，以确定合适的管理策略，以最大程度地提高咖啡质量而又不严重危害生产或环境。