Grain production, nutrient concentration and utilization in response to the increase of coffee plant density

Abstract

The most efficient means of improving coffee production in the first years is by mean of increasing plant density. This work had the objective of evaluating the fertilizer utilization, nutrients absorption and coffee production in relation to different plant densities. The experiment was implanted in october 1997 using coffee plants, Coffea Arabica L. (Rubiaceae), of ‘IAPAR 59’ variety. The plant densities evaluated were: 3333; 5000; 6666; 10000 and 20000 plants per hectare. The experimental design used was in randomized blocks with three replications. Each plot of 72 m² received the same fertilization with macro and micronutrients. The coffee production, foliar area, leaves dry biomass, macro and micronutrients foliar contents and soil chemical characteristics between zero to 20 and 20 to 40 cm deep were evaluated on the 12^th and 24^th months of plant development. In the second year the highest production per area and per plant was achieved with the density of 15,139 and 10,875 plants per hectare, respectively. With 20,000 plants per hectare the competition by light, water and nutrients was high and the production per plant was reduced in 51% in relation to 10,000 plants per hectare of density, however, the production per area was similar between the two strains populations. The N, P and K utilization was more efficient in higher planting densities