Fraction of transpirable soil water in initial conilon coffee development.

The fraction of transpirable soil water affects the morphological and physiological processes of plants. The objective was to evaluate the influence of the fraction of water in the soil breathable early development conilon coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner). The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse at the Experimental Center of Agricultural Sciences of the Federal University of Espirito Santo, Alegre, ES, which consisted of two treatments and four replicates. The treatments consisted of absence and presence of soil water deficit, with the treatments applied at 30, 60 and 90 days after planting. Treatment without deficit was irrigated daily, keeping the moisture close to field capacity soil. On treatment with water deficit the deficit was applied until the plants reach 10% of the relative transpiration treatment without water deficit. The parameters evaluated were: plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, leaf number, coefficient of relative transpiration and perspiration. To evaluate the recovery of plants after water stress, they are kept for 30 days, with moisture close to field capacity soil. The data indicate that all parameters in the first season of drought, began to suffer reductions in fraction of transpirable soil water near 1.0. However, as the water deficit was applied in more developed plants, the parameters evaluated suffered reductions at lower values of the fraction of transpirable soil water. None of the parameters evaluated in the treatment deficit, recovered similarly to treatment without deficit, regardless of the time of drought.