Land management strategy for cocoa cultivation at home gardens

The climate change significantly gives impact on microclimate home garden by enhancing the temperature from 25 to 29 °C. The canopy stratification influences microclimate condition (light intensity, air temperature, soil humidity) which are less supportive for cocoa growth. Limitation of light intensity resulted in lower chlorophyll on photosynthesis, so that a management strategy to increase the chlorophyll with balanced fertilization especially on nitrogen enrichment is required. Research purposes were to study the effects of surrounding cocoa microclimate on canopy growth, fruit and seed qualities (physical and chemical), and also to analyze the role of nitrogen to replace the light intensity limitation of cocoa. A survey method was conducted to collect the data at Punung village, Pacitan Regency, East Java, Indonesia. Based on shade condition, three sub-villages were selected as sampling sites, namely Klepu 1, Jatisari and Klepu 2 which represented low, dense and very dense canopy closure, respectively. Four cocoa trees of 4-5 years age were selected at every sub-village as samples and treated with nitrogen fertilizer. Microclimate components were analyzed with descriptive quantitative and followed with correlation analysis. Analysis of variant and F test were used to determine nitrogen requirement to support the chemical quality of seeds. The results found the light interception (4.5-11.14%) caused the growth of canopy was less than optimal due to cocoa needs 15% of light interception for better growth. Physical qualities (uniformity of fruit size, the weight of seed per fruit and number of seeds per 100 g) were affected by temperature (29-30°C) and also the chemical quality. Closed relationship and positive correlation (r = 0.62) showed that temperature significantly influences seeds development. Nitrogen deficiency due to light limitation could be replaced with 850 g of urea per tree per year, and thus recommended as a land management strategy for cocoa cultivation at home gardens.