Growth, plant nutrition, and bean yield of arabica coffee influenced by the application of phosphogypsum, organic compost, and Congo grass intercropping

• Grant number: 19/12377-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2019
• End date: April 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Rogério Peres Soratto
• Grantee: Anderson Romão dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

There has been increasing interest in management practices that aim the sustainability in coffee plantation, among them the use of organic fertilizers, the intercrop cultivation of cover crops, and the use of phosphogypsum to deepen the root system. However, there is still little information on the interaction of these practices. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the application of phosphogypsum and organic compost, as well as the intercrop cultivation of Congo grass in some soil characteristics and plant nutrition, growth, and bean yield of arabica coffee crop. The experiment has been conducted since February 2017 in a medium - textured dystrophic Yellow Red Latosol cultivated with arabica coffee, Catuaí IAC 99 cultivar, located in the municipality of Manduri - SP. The design is a randomized blocks, in a factorial scheme 3 × 2 × 2 and three replications. The 12 treatments are composed by a combination of three rates of phosphogypsum (control - without application of phosphogypsum, recommended rate (1,200 kg ha-1) and high rate o(40,000 kg ha-1)), annual application or not of organic compost (10,000 kg ha-1), and presence or absence of intercrop cultivation of Congo grass. The following assessments are being and/ will be carried out: chemical, physical, and biological attributes of the soil; dry matter production and accumulation of nutrients in the aboveground part of the weeds and Congo grass in the coffee interrows; nutrient concentrations in the coffee leaves; height and diameter of coffee plants; and coffee bean yield. The data obtained will be analyzed by analysis of variance and the means compared by the LSD test at 5% of probability. (AU)