Nutrition of coffee plants under fertirrigation with urban wastewater

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects on nutrition of Arabic coffee (Coffea arabica) by fertirrigation using a drip irrigation system with untreated urban wastewater (UW), without application of chemical fertilizers; confronted with irrigation using fresh water (FW) with chemical fertilizers; The study was carried out at the Experimental Unit of Wastewater Treatment and Irrigated Agriculture, of UFV, during 18 months. The fertirrigated treatments (MR’s) consisted of five depths of UW (406, 515, 798, 924 e 1071 mm). FW with fertilization (MC) was used in another treatment. The nutrient (N, P, K, Ca, Mg e S) contents of the leaf were evaluated every three months. The results obtained showed that: the MR presented Mg content of the leaves always higher than MC and contents of Ca and P during the first 12 months. There was no difference in N and S contents of the leaves for the MR’s and MC treatments and the K contente of the leaf for MC was higher than for MR.

Key words:
reuse; wastewater; nutrients; irrigated coffee crop