“…Yang et al (2007) pointed out that chemical and mechanical methods are the dominant weed control practices in many production systems due to its effectiveness, but noted on the other hand, that weed presence during the rainy season prevented soil erosion. Studies conducted in tropical conditions showed that mechanical and chemical methods for weed control on coffee plantations had a great influence on the soil compaction state (Kurachi & Silveira, 1984;Alcântara & Ferreira, 2000b;Araujo-Junior et al, 2008, soil surface crust formation, erosion and coffee yield (Silveira et al, 1985;Alcântara & Ferreira, 2000a).…”