Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees

Climate models predict decreasing precipitation and increasing air temperature, causing concern for the future of cocoa in the major producing regions worldwide. It has been suggested that shade could alleviate stress by reducing radiation intensity and conserving soil moisture, but few on-farm coco...

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Autores principales: Mensah, E.O., Raebild, A., Asare, R., Amoatey, C., Markussen, B.O., Owusu, K., Asitoakor, B.K., Vaast, Philippe
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132169
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author Mensah, E.O.
Raebild, A.
Asare, R.
Amoatey, C.
Markussen, B.O.
Owusu, K.
Asitoakor, B.K.
Vaast, Philippe
author_browse Amoatey, C.
Asare, R.
Asitoakor, B.K.
Markussen, B.O.
Mensah, E.O.
Owusu, K.
Raebild, A.
Vaast, Philippe
author_facet Mensah, E.O.
Raebild, A.
Asare, R.
Amoatey, C.
Markussen, B.O.
Owusu, K.
Asitoakor, B.K.
Vaast, Philippe
author_sort Mensah, E.O.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Climate models predict decreasing precipitation and increasing air temperature, causing concern for the future of cocoa in the major producing regions worldwide. It has been suggested that shade could alleviate stress by reducing radiation intensity and conserving soil moisture, but few on-farm cocoa studies are testing this hypothesis. Here, for 33 months, we subjected twelve-year cocoa plants in Ghana to three levels of rainwater suppression (full rainwater, 1/3 rainwater suppression and 2/3 rainwater suppression) under full sun or 40 % uniform shade in a split plot design, monitoring soil moisture, physiological parameters, growth, and yield. Volumetric soil moisture (ϴw) contents in the treatments ranged between 0.20 and 0.45 m3m−3 and increased under shade. Rainwater suppression decreased leaf water potentials (ѱw), reaching −1.5 MPa in full sun conditions indicating severe drought. Stomatal conductance (gs) was decreased under the full sun but was not affected by rainwater suppression, illustrating the limited control of water loss in cocoa plants. Although pre-dawn chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) indicated photoinhibition, rates of photosynthesis (Pn) were highest in full sun. On the other hand, litter fall was highest in the full sun and under water stress, while diameter growth and carbon accumulation increased in the shade but was negatively affected by rainwater suppression. Abortion of fruits and damage to pods were high under shade, but dry bean yield was higher compared to under the full sun. The absence of interactions between shade treatments and rainwater suppression suggests that shade may improve the performance of cocoa, but not sufficiently to counteract the negative effects of water stress under field conditions.
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spelling CGSpace1321692025-11-11T10:18:42Z Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees Mensah, E.O. Raebild, A. Asare, R. Amoatey, C. Markussen, B.O. Owusu, K. Asitoakor, B.K. Vaast, Philippe cocoa agroforestry carbon accumulation climate change food security drought Climate models predict decreasing precipitation and increasing air temperature, causing concern for the future of cocoa in the major producing regions worldwide. It has been suggested that shade could alleviate stress by reducing radiation intensity and conserving soil moisture, but few on-farm cocoa studies are testing this hypothesis. Here, for 33 months, we subjected twelve-year cocoa plants in Ghana to three levels of rainwater suppression (full rainwater, 1/3 rainwater suppression and 2/3 rainwater suppression) under full sun or 40 % uniform shade in a split plot design, monitoring soil moisture, physiological parameters, growth, and yield. Volumetric soil moisture (ϴw) contents in the treatments ranged between 0.20 and 0.45 m3m−3 and increased under shade. Rainwater suppression decreased leaf water potentials (ѱw), reaching −1.5 MPa in full sun conditions indicating severe drought. Stomatal conductance (gs) was decreased under the full sun but was not affected by rainwater suppression, illustrating the limited control of water loss in cocoa plants. Although pre-dawn chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) indicated photoinhibition, rates of photosynthesis (Pn) were highest in full sun. On the other hand, litter fall was highest in the full sun and under water stress, while diameter growth and carbon accumulation increased in the shade but was negatively affected by rainwater suppression. Abortion of fruits and damage to pods were high under shade, but dry bean yield was higher compared to under the full sun. The absence of interactions between shade treatments and rainwater suppression suggests that shade may improve the performance of cocoa, but not sufficiently to counteract the negative effects of water stress under field conditions. 2023-11 2023-10-08T21:14:04Z 2023-10-08T21:14:04Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132169 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Mensah, E.O., Ræbild, A., Asare, R., Amoatey, C., Markussen, B., Owusu, K., ... & Vaast, P. (2023). Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees. Science of The Total Environment, 899: 165657, 1-13.
spellingShingle cocoa
agroforestry
carbon
accumulation
climate change
food security
drought
Mensah, E.O.
Raebild, A.
Asare, R.
Amoatey, C.
Markussen, B.O.
Owusu, K.
Asitoakor, B.K.
Vaast, Philippe
Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees
title Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees
title_full Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees
title_fullStr Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees
title_full_unstemmed Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees
title_short Combined effects of shade and drought on physiology, growth, and yield of mature cocoa trees
title_sort combined effects of shade and drought on physiology growth and yield of mature cocoa trees
topic cocoa
agroforestry
carbon
accumulation
climate change
food security
drought
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132169
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