Efficiency of green manures for Cercospora leaf spot management in coffee plants

Abstract

The use of Mucuna aterrima, Dolichos lab lab, Crotalaria mucronata, Arachis hypogaea, Mucuna deeringiana, C. spectabilis, and C. breviflora, intercropped with coffee plants, was evaluated as green manures in the management of Cercospora coffeicola under field conditions in Carlópolis and Jacarezinho counties in the state of Paraná in the crop seasons of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010. The main plot was comprised by treatments with green manures and urea, whereas subplots by the application or not of the poultry litter. There were two controls without green manure and urea: one with and another one without application of Beauveria bassiana, which was used to control Hypothenemus hampei. Similar founds were obtained at both municipalities. The percentage of diseased leaves (DL) was lower for most of the green manures and urea treatments. However, all the treatments reduced the DL in 2009/2010. Although A. hypogaea did not differ statistically from the controls in most of the experiments, the number of lesions per leaf was lower in the other treatments. Similarly, the percentage of healthy coffee berries was higher in the treatments than the controls in most of the experiments in both years. In general, there was no synergistic effect between green manures and urea with the poultry litter, and the efficiency of most green manures was similar to urea in the management of Cercospora leaf spot.