Brazil is a world leader in coffee production due to the its diversity of soil and climatic conditions. The juvenile pre-selection of the coffee tree, selecting cultivars that have desirable characteristics correlated with productivity, can help in choosing the appropriate cultivar for each environment. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and morphological attributes of coffee cultivars of small size in the first year of formation under edaphoclimatic conditions in Jaboticabal-SP. The experimental design was in randomized blocks, with eighteen cultivars and four replications. Plant height and stem diameter were measured at 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 days after planting. The crown diameter, the height and length of the first plagiotropic branch and the number of leaf pairs were evaluated at 12 months after planting. The cultivars Catuai Amarelo IAC 62 and Catucai 2SL obtained higher plant heights. The largest stem diameters were observed in the cultivars IAC Ouro Amarelo, Obata IAC 1669-20, Oeiras MG 6851, Pau Brasil MG1, Tupi IAC 125 and Catuai Amarelo IAC 62. The crown diameter was higher in the cultivars IAC Ouro Amarelo, Catucai 2SL, Sabia, Catuai Amarelo IAC 62, Sacramento MG1, Pau- Brasil MG1, Tupi IAC 125 and Tupi IAC 1669-33. The cultivars Oeiras MG 6851, Catuai Vermelho IAC 99, Catuai 2SL and Catuai Amarelo IAC 62 showed the highest heights of the first plagiotropic branch. The length of the plagiotropic branch and the number of pairs of leaves per branch, variables that contribute to productivity, did not differ among cultivars.
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