Contextualization: Water is indispensable for plant development, and its response to water deficit varies according to the species and their growth stages.
Knowledge gap: The magnitude of the effect of soil water deficit on the growth of young coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plants evaluated over time is unknown.
Purpose: Research was carried out to identify the effect of soil water deficit and, therefore, the sensitivity to drought in young coffee plants.
Methodology: The deficit irrigation method was used. Coffee plants of the Cenicafé 1 variety were planted at three months old in cylindrical pots and conditioned for four months in mesh houses at Cenicafé - Planalto. After conditioning, the effect on plants' growth and dry matter subjected to five ranges of soil matric potential was evaluated over 140 days. Potentials ranged from -20±10 kPa (control) to -1600±100 kPa.
Results and conclusions: The results showed that soil water deficit affects the growth of young coffee (C. arabica) plants, which could define C. arabica at this stage as drought sensitive. Plants subjected to the least stress and the extreme drought showed a 30% and 57% decrease in dry matter, respectively. For growth variables, the effect of water deficit was evident in the evaluations at 77, 113, and 140 days of treatment application. In all cases, the results showed differences between the extreme drought and the control of up to 30cm in height and equatorial diameter, 0.9 m2 of leaf area, 132 leaves, 3 branches, and 66 nodes. The mathematical models that explained the effect of drought on dry mass were of the logarithmic type. It was identified that for weather and soil conditions similar to those in the study, young coffee plants begin to deteriorate after 40 days of drought. With a soil matric potential close to -40 kPa, for a time of 120 days, coffee plants can lose 10% of dry mass, and when the potential exceeds -90 kPa there can be further losses in dry matter and decreases in the number of branches between the 77 and 113 days.