Synchronizing coffee blossoming and fruit ripening in irrigated crops of the Brazilian Cerrado Mineiro Region

Non-uniform blossoming due to deficit irrigation is common in perennial crops such as coffee. It usually leads to uneven ripening of fruits and impairs harvesting efficiency and quality of coffee. The effect of different water deficit periods was evaluated on development stage of flower bud at blossoming stages in coffee plantations. We also evaluated the effect of water deficit on growth, productivity, maturation, and physical quality of the bean. Two identical trials were performed on 19-month-old Coffea arabica cultivars (‘Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144’ and ‘Bourbon Amarelo J9’), from June 2008 to July 2009. Irrigation was suspended and resumed at different times (seven treatments) at the pre-flowering stage using a randomized block design with four replicates. The cultivars reached different levels of deficit for the same period of suspended irrigation. In ‘Catuaí’, 60% of the flower buds opened after the coffee plants were exposed to water deficit from early or late June to early September. In ‘Bourbon’, even the longer water deficit period (06/09 to 09/07) did not induce blossoming greater than 20%. Growth was slightly affected during the water withholding period, but not in the subsequent evaluations in October or January. In both cultivars, drought promoted a higher percentage of ripe cherries at harvest than continuous irrigation, regardless of treatment. In conclusion, although blossoming was not a single concentrated event, especially in ‘Bourbon’, withholding irrigation in the pre-flowering stage contributed to uniform fruit ripening in both Arabica coffee cultivars.