Identifying key factors affecting coffee leaf rust incidence in agroforestry plantations in Peru Lenka Ehrenbergerova ´ . Ales ˇ Kuc ˇera . Emil Cienciala . Jan Trochta . Daniel Volar ˇı ´k Received: 14 December 2016 / Accepted: 6 July 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017 Abstract Coffee leaf rust (CLR), caused by Hemi- leia vastarix, is one of the most serious diseases of coffee plantations and cause great losses in coffee production. We aimed to examine coffee varieties, shade, age of coffee plants, coffee plant density and soil properties in relation to CLR infection. To do this, we established a total of 75 plots in three agroforestry coffee plantations in the central Peruvian Amazon. We gathered data there in 2011 (dry season) on the presence/absence of CLR; coffee variety; age and density of coffee plants, and also took hemispherical photographs to determine canopy openness. In 2014 (wet season), we again gathered data on the same variables. In 2012, we collected soil samples from a subset of the plots. At all plantations, coffee variety had a significant effect on CLR incidence, with the Catimor variety infected less frequently than Caturra. Coffee plant age had a significant positive effect on CLR incidence. Increasing coffee density also increased CLR incidence for some of the studied plantations/seasons. Comparing those plots from which data were collected in the dry and wet seasons, we found that CLR presence was significantly higher in the wet season. The effect of shade on CLR incidence was not clear. Catimor and Caturra varieties showed opposite trends of CLR incidence in response to shade quantity in most cases (Caturra variety CLR incidence was decreasing with shading increase and Catimor CLR incidence decreasing with decreasing shading). Finally, the soil properties did not affect CLR incidence. Keywords Coffee age Á Coffee plant density Á Coffee variety Á Shade trees Á Soil properties Á Microclimate conditions Introduction One of the most serious common coffee diseases is coffee leaf rust (CLR) (Kushalappa 1989; Prakash et al. 2004; Wintgens 2004), which is caused by the L. Ehrenbergerova ´(&) Á A. Kuc ˇera Á D.Volarˇı ´k Mendel University in Brno, Zeme ˇde ˇlska ´ 3, 61 300 Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: lenka.ehrenbergerova@mendelu.cz; nenidoma@seznam.cz A. Kuc ˇera e-mail: xkucera1@mendelu.cz D.Volarˇı ´k e-mail: daniel.volarik@mendelu.cz E. Cienciala IFER – Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research, Cs. Armady 655, 254 01 Jı ´love ´ u Prahy, Czech Republic e-mail: emil.cienciala@ifer.cz J. Trochta Department of Forest Ecology, The Silva Tarouca Research Institute, Lidicka ´ 25/27, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: j.trochta@gmail.com 123 Agroforest Syst DOI 10.1007/s10457-017-0101-x