Productivity of coffee crop (Coffea arabica L.) in conversion to the organic production system

Abstract

This experiment was carried out in Lavras, MG, to verify the productivity of coffee crop (Coffea arabica L.) in conversion to the organic production system. The experiment was set in a six-year old coffee crop of the cultivar Catuaí Amarelo IAC 86, with spacing of 4,0 x 0,6 m, previously cultivated under the conventional system. In the organic treatments a 4 x 4 balanced lattice design with 5 replications in a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial scheme was used, besides 4 additional treatments. The factorial was constituted by 3 sources of organic matter (castor bean flour, boiler litter and cattle manure), with or without coffee straw and green fertilization with guandu bean (Cajanus cajan L.). The four additional treatments were composed by: Treatment 1: cattle manure + coffee straw + coal bran + double potassium and magnesium sulphate; Treatment 2: castor bean flour + coffee straw + rock bran; Treatment 3: coffee straw; Treatment 4: green fertilization. In order to compare the treatments, one plot with conventional treatment was also used. No significant differences in the productivity of the coffee crops were observed in the first year of conversion to organic production, in comparison with the conventional crop. However, in the second year of conversion, significant differences in productivity between the two systems were observed, being the productivity of the organic crops lower than the conventional ones.