Studies of nutritional efficiency coffee (Coffea arabica) grafted plants were performed in order to verify the potential of Conilon (C. canephora) clones as rootstocks considering the absorption and use of N, P and S. The experiment was conducted in the coffee plant nursery of the Plant Pathology Department of the Federal University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, in an open environment using 20 L pots. Five half-sibling elite clones of C. canephora Pierre cv. Conilon ('ES 21', 'ES 36', 'ES 26', 'ES 23' and 'ES 38') obtained from the INCAPER coffee breeding program were used as rootstocks. The cultivars Catuaí Vermelho IAC 15 and Oeiras MG 6851 and the progenies H 419-10-3-4-4 and H 514-5-5-3 of C. Arabica were used as grafts. The experimental design was completely randomized containing 24 treatments and 3 replicates with four control plants and 20 grafting combinations. Cultivating in pots, the cultivar Catuaí Vermelho IAC 15 combined with the rootstocks ES 26 and ES 23 presented higher production of dryer matter and use of N and P compared with the control. In general, grafted plants cultivated in pots showed similar or inferior performance in relation to the control varieties, regarding nutritional efficiency and dry matter production.
Coffea arabica; Coffea canephora; nutritional efficiency; rootstocks
