Water regimes and phosphorus levels on coffee plants

This work aimed to study the vegetative and reproductive growth and yield of coffee plants under three water regimes and four phosphorus fertilization doses, on second year after pruning on cerrado soil. The cultivar used was Catuai Rubi, MG 1192, Coffea arabica L. with 7,143 plants ha(-1). Water regimes were: all year round irrigation (I); after June 24(th), 2007, irrigation was stopped for 70 days (SI70) and for 109 days (SI109). Treatments SI70 e SI109 were interrupted with a rainfall of 12 mm (October 1(st), 2007), which visually caused flowering initiation. The four phosphorus doses were: 0 (P-0), 100 (P-100), 200 (P-200) e 400 (P-400) kg of P2O5 ha(-1). The experiment was arranged in randomized complete block design for water regime with phosphorus doses as split plot and three replications. The highest doses of phosphorus (P-200) and (P-400) provided increases in branch length, leaf area, number of fruits and grain yield. Water regimes SI70 and SI109 provided higher cherry fruit percentage and the highest and lowest grain yield, respectively.