Abstract
The management of invasive plants is strategic for agricultural areas, since these plants lead to a reduction in productivity. Among potential forms of management is the application of coffee grounds, given that the caffeine present in this residue has allelopathic effects. As such, this study’s objective was to evaluate Urochloa brizantha growth and phytotoxicity when administering different doses of coffee grounds before and after emergence. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse of the Federal University of Lavras. Planting of the invasive species employed 8-liter vases with 50 seeds each. Assays were performed using a randomized block design, with three replicates, in a 4 × 2 factorial scheme. The first factor was coffee ground dosage: 55, 73 and 100 g doses were diluted in 100 mL of water, and each pot received 100 mL of coffee grounds slurry. The second factor was period of application: pre or post-emergence. Evaluated parameters were: plant height; dry shoot mass; phytotoxicity, speed of emergence (SE), and number of emerged plants. We found that pre-emergence treatments significantly reduced the growth of Urochloa brizantha. In respect to the ‘SE’ and ‘number of emerged plants’ parameters, slurry with coffee grounds doses up to 50 g were found to compromise plant emergence. In respect to phytotoxicity percentage, a linear increase was observed according to the increase in sludge dosage. This study concludes that, when applied during pre-emergence and in low concentrations, coffee grounds compromise the growth of Urochloa brizantha.
Highlights
As one of the largest contributors to gross domestic product, Brazilian agriculture has shown satisfactory performance over the years
This entails the reduction of costs and the use of strategies to minimize the impact of pesticides on the environment through an approach that aims to reduce the resistance of weeds to the application of herbicides of the same chemical group, adding an opportunity to manage these for farmers who do not use agricultural pesticides on crops
The residue can have deleterious effects when the plants are in the seedling stage, since these are more sensitive to environmental stress, Waller et al (1986) describe caffeine as a powerful growth inhibitor which may accumulate in the soil near andaround coffee plants; it is phytotoxic (Figure 1) to the radicles of young coffee plants themselves, thushelping to control invasive species in coffee plantations
Summary
As one of the largest contributors to gross domestic product, Brazilian agriculture has shown satisfactory performance over the years It is a diversified agriculture, given the continental dimensions of the country and its cultural differences., irrespective of region, one of the prevalent factors of damaged crops is the occurrence of weeds, which competes with agricultural crops for water, light, space, and nutrients (Vasconcelos et al, 2012), besides making it difficult to harvest grains. For the sustainable management of Urochloa spp. it is necessary to associate several control practices that aim to diminish its competitive effect with cultivated plants This entails the reduction of costs and the use of strategies to minimize the impact of pesticides on the environment through an approach that aims to reduce the resistance of weeds to the application of herbicides of the same chemical group, adding an opportunity to manage these for farmers who do not use agricultural pesticides on crops
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