Morphophysiological responses of Conilon coffee matrix plants in a super-dense clonal garden

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the morphophysiological responses and cutting production of clones of Conilon coffee (Coffea canephora) cultivars in a super-dense clonal garden in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The super-dense clonal garden was built in 2019 using 39 clones: 9, 9, 9, and 12 of cultivars Centenária ES8132, Diamante ES8112, ES8122 (Jequitibá), and Marilândia ES8143, respectively. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design, with three replicates. Cutting production and the following morphophysiological traits were evaluated at 9 and 18 months after planting: chlorophyll index, normalized difference vegetation index, plant height, canopy height, canopy diameter, number of shoots, number of viable cuttings, number of leaves, fresh leaf mass, and plant fresh and dry matter mass. The super-dense clonal garden caused different morphophysiological responses among the studied clones. In general, clones C2, C5, C6, C8, D1, D8, D9, J8, M2, M9, M10, and M12 showed a higher mean cutting production, whereas C4, J1, J4, M4, and M5 were the most sensitive to the super-dense regime. Under these conditions, it is recommended to increase the proportion of matrix plants of the latter clones.