ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Soil Processes
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1666778
This article is part of the Research TopicRegenerative Agriculture for Soil Health, Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, and Climate ActionView all 17 articles
Influence of the climate variability and two mineral fertilization programs on nitrogen losses in Coffee (Coffea Arabica L.)
Provisionally accepted
Victor Hugo Ramirez-Builes1*
Andres Mauricio Villegas1
Miguel Angel Agudelo1,2Juan Camilo Sotelo1,2Kely Partners Moriano1,2
Petra Partners junklewitz1- 1Yara International (Germany), Duelmen, Germany
- 2Yara Colombia, Barranquilla, Colombia
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Introduction: Global coffee production is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and variability, particularly nitrogen (N) losses via ammonia volatilization (NH3) and nitrate (NO₃⁻) leaching. Improved N management could mitigate these losses, yet field-level evidence under ENSO-driven climate variability remains limited. We aimed to quantify N losses via leaching and volatilization under two contrasting fertilization programs in a Colombian coffee plantation and assess their sensitivity to El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases. Methods: A field experiment was conducted from 2022 to 2024 in the Central West coffee region of Colombia. N leaching was monitored using drainage lysimeters, and NH3 volatilization was measured with semi-open static collectors. This study spanned two ENSO phases La Niña (2022–mid-2023) and El Niño (mid-2023–2024). Two fertilization programs were evaluated: a urea-based NPK blend (UB-NPK), an ammonium-nitrate-based NPK (ANB-NPK), and a no-N control. Results: Nitrogen losses were significantly influenced by both fertilizer type and climate phase. During La Niña (negative ENSO phase), leaching was dominant loss pathway, with no significant differences between treatments. During El Niño (positive ENSO phase), NH3 volatilization became the dominant loss mechanism, with significantly higher losses in the UB-NPK treatment. Cumulatively, after two years and six fertilizations, mean N losses were 36.7% for UB-NPK and 13.1% for ANB-NPK of the total N applied. Discussion: ENSO-driven climate variability alters nitrogen loss dynamics in coffee systems. Urea-based fertilizers resulted in greater losses under El Niño conditions, while ammonium-nitrate-based blends showed improved N retention. These findings highlight the potential of fertilizer type selection as a mitigation strategy under variable climate conditions.
Keywords: Leaching, Nitrates, ammonium, Ammonia, Volatilization, climate variability
Received: 15 Jul 2025; Accepted: 16 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ramirez-Builes, Villegas, Agudelo, Sotelo, Moriano and junklewitz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Victor Hugo Ramirez-Builes, victor.ramirez@yara.com
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