Abstract
Alley intercipiente with annual crops is a usual practice in coffee cultivation, especially in periods of renewal of the crop by pruning. Its purpose is to make better use of the area, decrease costs of implantation and renovation, mainly in coffee plantations with open lines, through the production of subsistence food with generation of additional and immediate income of the producer. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the productivity and plant health of pruned coffee crop in consortium with annual crops in different spacings. The experiment was carried out at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Sul de Minas Gerais – Campus Muzambinho, in the 2016/17 and 2017/2018 crop years, in a coffee plant of Catuaí Vermelho cultivar 144, 12 years old, pruned in 2014. Three intercrops (corn, chia and beans) in two spacings (30.0cm and 60.0cm) plus two additional treatments without intercropping (slashing or applying herbicide) were implanted in the soil. In the crop year 2016/17, a delay in the fruit maturation was observed in the treatment with intercropping spaced at 30.0cm, when compared to the same crops at 60.0cm spacing. The maturation of the fruits in the 2017/18 crop year was delayed in the treatments of consorts spaced at 60.0cm, when compared with the additional treatment. There was an expressive increase of cercosporiosis with cropping culture spacing 60.0cm. It was also observed that the average yield of coffee in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 crop years was affected by the interplant cultures implanted in the spacing of 30.0cm. In general, regardless of the spacings, intercropping negatively influenced the productivity of coffee in both 2016/17 and 2017/2018 crop years.
Highlights
Brazil, as the largest coffee producer and exporter (Coffea spp.), occupies the second position in consumption behind the United States of America, becoming increasingly influential in agribusiness at the international level
Adopting techniques for growing intercrop crops in coffee plantations based on the most up-to-date recommendations, such as varieties, stands and spatial arrangements, the present study aims to evaluate the intercropping of coffee received with intercrop crops in different spacing and to evaluate their effect on coffee productivity and plant health in the region of Muzambinho, for two harvests of the coffee crop
These results corroborate the studies carried out by Carvalho et al (2007), at which the authors determined the number of rows and the fertilizer dose of beans intercalated with dense coffee, reporting a shading of the coffee according to the increase in lines of the intercropping, decreasing production and increasing the diameter of the coffee stem
Summary
As the largest coffee producer and exporter (Coffea spp.), occupies the second position in consumption behind the United States of America, becoming increasingly influential in agribusiness at the international level. Intercropping is a usual practice in coffee growing, especially during periods of planting or renewal by pruning (ASTEN, 2011). The initial phase of implantation of the coffee plant has a very high cost, in addition, its economic return begins only at the third year (OUMA, 2009). The renewal of the crop interrupts the production of coffee up to two years, but the situation is complicated by very dense crops, which require periodic pruning from coffee growers (CARVALHO, 2010). The main purpose of intercropping is to make better use of the area, to decrease the costs of implantation and renovation, especially in crops with open lines, through the production of subsistence food with the generation of additional and immediate income to the producer (SANTOS et al, 2008; CHUNG et al, 2013) through better use of the area, especially in small properties. The coffee consortium can provide other benefits, such as improvements in soil moisture conservation conditions, reduction of damage caused by winds (DaMATTA; RAMALHO, 2006; PEZZOPANE et al, 2010), possibility of improving soil fertility (VAAST et al, 2005), reduction in the occurrence of spontaneous plants (SILVA et al, 2013), improvement in the use of labor (APARECIDO et al, 2014) and favoring financial return
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