The objective of this work was to evaluate the development of seedlings of four varieties of arabic coffee plant in hydroponic system with expanded clay. The seeds of the cultivars Catuaí, Rubi, Icatu e Acaiá were colected from plants submitted to three levels of fertilization. The low and high levels of fertilization received 0.4 and 1.4 times the recommendation done for the appropriate level, respectively. After the collection and preparation, the seeds were germinated in paper rolls and after 30 days they were transplanted to 120 ml containers filled out with commercial substratum. The nutritive solution was supplied to the channels with expanded clay by sub-irrigation. The experimental design was in randomized blocks in a 4 x 3 factorial scheme with 4 replications and 7 useful plants per plot. As soon as the plants reached 5 to 6 pairs of leaves the height of plants and dry matter weight of leaves, stems and root system were measured. The obtained results were submitted to the variance analysis and the averages were compared by the Duncan test. It was observed that the level of fertilization of the matrix plants had little influence upon growth and development of the coffee plant seedlings. The proposed hydroponic system promoted adequate development of the coffee plant seedlings.
Coffea arabica L; Mineral Nutrition; Expanded-Clay
