Management of Pre-mature Fruit Dropping in Coffee

Coffee is one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverages consumed all over the world. The coffee industry offers livelihood for millions of people directly and indirectly among the coffee growing countries. The crop is known to be affected by many diseases during different seasons. Pre-mature fruit dropping is a major limiting factor in production and productivity of coffee cultivation in Kodagu district of Karnataka. A technology assessment was carried out to evaluate the various technological options for the management of pre-mature fruit dropping in coffee in Nalluru and Ponnampet villages of Virajpet taluk, Kodagu district in Karnataka. Four different technologies were assessed during 2021–22, in randomized block design replicated five times, comprising of four treatments. The results revealed that, spraying of Bordeaux mixture 1% + Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) 50 ml in 200 litres of water during June month was found to be better in terms of retention of number of berries/cluster (28.2), less number of fruit dropping per plant (8.0), less black rot disease (6.75) and also resulted in higher cherry coffee yield per ha (37.5 t) as compared to other treatments. Hence, the above technological package had proved to be highly effective in managing the pre-mature fruit dropping in coffee.