Conclusion
When the soils are converted from forest to coffee plantation, it has resulted in an increase in soil clay content, pH, organic carbon stock, available nutrients and CEC in the coffee plantation ecosystem. The surface of coffee plantation soils recorded higher status of available nutrients indicating human interference by management practices as the conversion to plantation disrupts the efficient nutrient recycling mechanisms of the forests and increases the nutrient availability in the top soil by fertilization. The conversion has resulted in an increase in land quality and this could prove the restorative effects of conversion to coffee plantation.
However, forest ecosystems contain ecologically sensitive components. Though the land use change to plantation ecosystem has resulted in an improved nutrient status and land quality in terms of indicators like pH, CEC, soil organic carbon stock, the ecologically sensitive components must have been disturbed as this could not be compensated by the effects of agricultural practices. Thus to improve soils under coffee plantation, organic matter input, proper soil conservation measures to reduce erosion could be considered sustainable. The practices that minimally disturb, replace or maintain the original structure of tropical forests tend to be those that are most likely to be sustainable in the long-term. On conversion of forest to coffee plantation, with change in land use, there was an overall increase in land quality reassured on par with forests, owing to good management of enterprise and canopy management involving shade trees.