Infrared thermography reveals agroforestry systems mitigate soil thermal stress in coffee cultivation

Abstract Soil temperature regulation plays a central role in sustaining coffee productivity under climate change, yet comparative evidence across contrasting land-use systems remains limited. This study used infrared thermography to characterize soil thermal regimes in four management systems: Coffea canephora monoculture, Hevea brasiliensis monoculture, coffee–rubber tree agroforestry, and native vegetation. A total of 160 thermal images were collected across five daytime intervals (11:00–16:00) under two surface conditions (with and without soil cover). Soil temperatures differed markedly among systems. The coffee monoculture exhibited the highest values, reaching 48.0 °C on exposed soil and 34.1 °C under cover, whereas native vegetation showed minimal thermal fluctuation (ΔT = 2.5 °C). Temperatures in the agroforestry system closely resembled those in the rubber tree monoculture (24.2–36.8 °C on exposed soil) and provided 32 percent greater buffering of minimum temperatures compared with the coffee monoculture. Thermal amplitude was also reduced in the agroforestry system (13.8 °C versus 20.3 °C), indicating enhanced microclimatic stability. Overall, the results demonstrate that integrating coffee with rubber trees substantially mitigates soil thermal stress while maintaining conditions compatible with productive cultivation. Infrared thermography proved to be an effective tool for high-resolution monitoring of soil temperature dynamics in perennial cropping systems.