Fertilization fractionation in coffee growing Fraccionamiento de la fertilización en el cultivo del café

In the Colombian coffee zone, for decades, it has been recommended that the fertilizer required per year for coffee plantations in production be supplied every six months, based on the fact that through this practice the greatest benefits are obtained from the economic point of view (Mestre and Uribe, 1980). In spite of this, the results of the research that have given support to this recommendation were obtained in a coffee culture different from the current one, mainly in aspects related to the varieties and distances of sowing, as well as the quantities and types of fertilizers used. The aforementioned circumstances, added to the climatic effects of El Niño and La Niña, have generated a series of questions among coffee growers as to how to achieve greater efficiency in fertilization. With the objective of evaluating the effect of fractioning the fertilization required per year in the production of coffee, an investigation was carried out in plantations of the Castillo® Variety with free sun exposure, located in five localities of the coffee zone, with soils of sandy loam and sandy clay loam texture, as well as different contents of organic matter and rainfall conditions.