This study was carried out during the period from January 2004 until May 2005, aimed to obtain information on the development of coffee trees grafted in 'APOATÃ IAC 2258' and ungrafted coffee trees. The experimental design used was a randomized block with a (2 x 3) + 2 factorial split-plot arrangement and four replications, as follows: two C. arabica L. cultivars, three types of seedling (grafted, self-grafted and ungrafted), two Apoatã rootstock control, ungrafted and self-grafted evaluated in four period of time. The experiments were evaluated for plant height, aerial parts dry matter, root system dry matter, plagiotropic shoots number and plagiotropic shoots nodes number. The results obtained let verify that grafted seedling was not superior to the ungrafted one for all the evaluated characteristics, regardless of the cultivar. No stress effect caused by grafting was observed, but Apoatã rootstock effect was observed for all features. Apoatã plants have more root system dry matter than C. arabica L. plants. The use of grafted seedling is not recommended for nematoid-free areas.
Coffee; Grafting; Vegetative growth; Root; Nematoid
