22 de Mar 2021 | Coffee
Brazil: Coffee seedlings that resisted drought tend to become more resistant in the long run
"The adverse climatic conditions are impacting even the way of planting coffee", says José Alves Donizeti, professor and researcher at UFL (University of Florida)
"The adverse climatic conditions are impacting even the way of planting coffee", says José Alves Donizeti, professor and researcher at UFL, referring to the current conditions that the coffee producer has been facing in the field. Until four or five years ago, the producer understood that the best time for planting new seedlings was between September and October, but last year, with the intense drought and high temperatures, the producer who planted in this period faced problems. The professor observed that there are at least 20% of seedlings lost in the main producing region of the country, in Minas Gerais.
The expert explains that within an ideal climate for coffee growing, when the plant goes through an expected summer period, it supports excess heat and lack of water, becoming even more resistant in the long run, but in the case of seedlings that were planted between September and October, the scenario is the opposite and the producer had to opt for replanting.
"There is no way, the plants that faced this condition died and the producer needed replanting. When the drought is very prolonged, the coffee plant suffers permanent damage, does not grow well, does not respond with fertilization and is already a conditioned plant. to produce much less or almost nothing in the future ", he says.
Still according to the explanation, with the heat, the drought and the poorly developed root system, unable to replace the water lost by the leaves, the stomata, structures present on the abaxial face of the coffee leaves (responsible for the CO2 entry and exit of O2 and water) close by interrupting the flow of water in the soil-plant-atmosphere system. In this new condition, plants stop absorbing water and minerals from the soil, wither, burn and, in extreme cases, dry and die.
The professor also points out that the producer who chose to plant late, in January, accompanied by the return of the rains, may also have suffered, considering that once again the month was marked by an intense summer. "The seedlings died in the field, except for those with irrigation", he comments. Still, Donizeti points out that plants that have not been replaced and have withstood the intense heat in the long run will become more resistant. "This plant is able to undergo new episodes of drought, naturally it will be more resistant", he comments.
"In a way, when the seedlings are acclimated in the nursery days before planting, they already go through this process of" hardening ", which conditions them to high radiation and cycles of heat and drought; an environment that will soon be exposed when are in the field ", says the expert.
To understand the conditions of the crop, Donizeti points out that the producer needs to be attentive to the characteristics presented by the plant and observe the crop in the early hours of the morning. "When he arrives in the field it is the first thing he has to observe. If he arrives in the field and the seedling is withered, around 7 am, he understands that that seedling needs to be replaced", he says. He also points out that the producer needs to do the analysis in the morning, considering that it is common to observe that in the hottest hours of the day freshly planted coffees wither their leaves and, the following morning, recover their turgor completely and normally follow their course of development.
Speaking in the current scenario of harvest 21, the professor points out that after water stress, conditions are more positive, with the recovery of adult coffee and the producer preparing for the harvest of the harvest, which should start in June. "The granulation process is as expected. Adult coffee has recovered the cycle and within our perspectives the scenario is positive, we need to wait to do what the next important step will be, which is the harvest", he concludes.