Concentration of Nutrients in Leaves, Flowers, and Fruits of Genotypes of Coffea canephora

Abstract

It is important to consider the nutritional demand among genotypes of the same species to achieve high yields. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the concentration of nutrients in leaves, flowers, grains, and fruit straw in conilon coffee genotypes. The experiment was carried out under a randomized block design, with three replications and the evaluation of nine genotypes. Leaf collections were carried out every three months, from August 2019 to May 2020. Flowers were collected at flowering in July 2019 and fruits in June 2020, upon complete maturation of the genotypes. The materials were dried in an oven and sent for laboratory analysis to determine the nutritional content. Data were subjected to analysis of variance followed by a comparison of means and estimates of genetic parameters and clustering using the hierarchical method (UPGMA). The nutrients found in the highest concentrations in the evaluated plant organs were N and K for macronutrients and Fe for micronutrients. For the leaves, the concentrations of the main nutrients were high in the first and reduced in the last evaluated periods, possibly due to mobilization to the fruits. Considering all the plant tissues evaluated, the order of concentration of macronutrients and micronutrients was N > K > Ca > P = Mg = S and Fe > B > Mn > Cu > Zn, respectively. For a nutritional diagnosis, it is important to take comparisons of the genetic diversity and evaluation periods into consideration.