Initial performance of coffee trees with different fertilizationand irrigation management

Abstract

Coffee is one of the main agricultural commodities in the world. However, due to its sensitivity to water stress and changes in the availability of finite sources of nutrients and the constant search for a more sustainable agriculture, it is necessary to modulate the responses of plants to soil water and the real nutritional demand of the coffee tree. Thus, the objective of this work was to analyze the initial performance of arabica coffee grown with or without water restriction and with five different soil fertilization managements, in order to propose more techniques to optimize coffee production. The exper-iment was carried out in a greenhouse, in the experimental area of the Federal University of Viçosa, in the city of Viçosa-MG. The experimental design was completely randomized in a 2x5 factorial scheme, with two irrigation depths (40% and 80% of the available water in the soil) and five fertilization managements (conventional 100% of the recommended dose, controlled release of 80 and 100% of N and recommended K and organomineral 80 and 100% N and K of the recommended dose). In view of the observed results, it can be observed that water restriction in the initial period of coffee develop-ment provided a reduction in the variables of root and shoot growth of the plants, regardless of the soil fertilization management used. In environments with greater water restriction, no significant difference was observed between the studied fertilizers and in an environment without water restriction, the controlled release fertilizer 80% presented the highest global growth averages. Water management provided a greater effect on coffee nutrient dynamics than duly studied fertilization management.