Coffee leaf rust causes great yield losses during the years of high berry yield. The objective of this trial was to study the development of levels of coffee berry removals on the incidence of rust and to correlate the levels of nutrients and carbohydrates with the disease in 2001 and 2002, in five-year-old plants of the cultivar Catuaí Vermelho. The presence of fruits in the initial phase of the vegetative coffee growth in 2001 triggers the establishment of the disease, which then decreased as the level of coffee fruits in the plants fell from 100% to zero percent. Plants with 100 % of coffee fruits on the tree had the highest incidence of disease; in contrast, plants with 0% of fruits had the lowest incidence of the disease. The rust started in January, reaching its peak at harvesting, in July. Plants that presented 62.75 bags per hectare presented 95% of their leaves diseased and 49% of the foliar area infected, at the end of the experiment. Plants with 15 bags per hectare were 10% diseased in July. As the level of coffee berry yield increased on the plants (0-100%) the average level of K decreased by 34%, Ca 37 %, Cu 17% and B increased 29%. The level of starch decreased by 30% on the plants without coffee fruits, compared with plants that had 50-100%.
yield levels; Coffea Arabica; Hemileia vastatrix
