Soil Characters of the Four Main Coffea arabica L. Cultivars in Yemen

Abstract

Yemen is home to many coffee cultivars due to its unique topography and soil, especially in mountain areas. Soil samples were collected from twelve coffee plantations located in three districts from three governorates. The soil texture of the four coffee cultivars (Bura’ai, Dawairi, Tufahi, and Udaini) ranged from sandy loam to loamy sand. The soil chemical features ranged between 7.08- 8.28 for pH; 3.2 to 4.9% for Nitrogen, 10 to 80 ppm for Sodium, 4 to 6 ppm for Potassium, 21.3 to 33 ppm for Phosphorous, 10.4 to 19.2ppm for Iron, 0.64 to1.93ppm for Manganite, 0.83 to 2.78 ppm for Zinc, 10 to16% for Calcium Carbonate amounts and by employing the Two Way Cluster Analysis, the four main coffee cultivars in Yemen were divided into two categories. The first category included Tufahi while the second category included Bura’ai, Dawairi, and Udaini, this can guide farmers when cultivating new coffee crops.