Viabilidade econômica e produtividade de cafeeiros irrigados cultivados com mulching de polietileno

Abstract

The use of mulching in the implantation of coffee trees is a promising technique to reduce weed management costs, especially in the cropping phase. In addition, it may enable higher productivity of the crop in the first crop. In this context, the objective of this work was to evaluate the economic viability of mulching in the coffee formation phase and the effect of the plastic cover on the yield of coffee irrigated in the first crop. The experiment was carried out at Juliana Farm, Monte Carmelo municipality, using seedlings of the cultivar Mundo Novo 376-4. The experimental design was a randomized block design with four replications in a 3 x 3 factorial scheme. The treatments consisted of the combination of mulching and three water regimes (irrigated when the Water reached values of 20, 40 and 60 kPa). In July 2016, the first harvest of the six central plants of each plot was carried out by means of the cloth. The coffee harvested was classified according to the type (according to the number of defects) and sieve for separation as to the size and shape of the grains. It was verified that the use of silver color mulching associated with the irrigation tension of 60 kPa promoted productivity 69.11% higher when compared to the control in the first harvest of the crop. The use of plastic cover provided the formation of larger grains and higher percentage of flat coffee in relation to the absence of plastic cover. There was no effect of mulching for amount of intrinsic and extrinsic defects at the 5% probability level by the F test.