Coffee: Environment And Crop Physiology

After oil products, coffee is the second most heavily traded commodity worldwide. In this chapter, we highlight some aspects of coffee growth and development in addition to focusing our attention on recent advances in the environmental physiology of growth and production of both Coffea arabica L. and C. canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner, which together account for 99% of world coffee bean production. This chapter is organized into sections dealing with (i) climatic factors and environmental requirements, (ii) vegetative and reproductive growth, (iii) branch die-back, (iv) physiological components of crop yield, (v) photosynthesis and crop yield, (vi) high-density plantings, (vii) shading and agroforestry systems, and (viii) beverage quality.