<b>Agronomic traits and fruit and grain yield related to the increase of coffee plant density</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actasciagron.v27i2.1845

Abstract

The most efficient way to improve coffee production in the first years is through plant density increasing. This work was carried out at Iguatemi Experimental Farm of the State University of Maringá (UEM) aiming to evaluate the influence of plant density increase on coffee agronomic traits, as well as on fruit and grain yield. The experiment was implanted in October, 1997, using coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plants of ‘Iapar 59’ cultivar. The plant densities evaluated were 3,333; 5,000; 6,666; 10,000 and 20,000 plants per hectare. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with three replications. The agronomic traits evaluated were plant height, leaf area, stem diameter, plant top diameter and number of plagiotropic ramification. Coffee fruits volume and weight, as well as grain yield per area and per plant, were also evaluated. The results indicated that plant populations near 14,000 plants per hectare showed better results in developing the characteristics evaluated; however, the higher production per plant was achieved with the density of 10,000 plants per hectare. The grain yield with plant density increase had linear response in the first year and quadratic response in the second. The highest production per area was achieved with plant populations of 20,000 plants per hectare in the first year and near 15,000 plants per hectare in the second year.