ALLELOPATHIC EFFECT OF CORN ON COFFEE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Consortium cultivation of coffee and maize crops, interspersed between the lines, is a common and traditional practice, mainly for small producers and family farming, with them a in destinations being to assist in the income of the property, to supplement human food as well as to the animal. However, there are many doubts about the relationship between the allelopathic effects or the competition between corn and coffee, caused by the cultivation of corn, mainly in the initial development phase of coffee. Thus, the research aimed to evaluate the allelopathic effect of corn hybrids on the initial development of coffee. The study was conducted in Poço Fundo (MG), with Arabica coffee seedlings of the cultivar Arara in polyethylene pots, and the corn hybrids, treatments, were Dekalb 3700RR2, Biomatriz Grifos, Biomatrix 207, and, Zeamays, with applications of 8g / L mixtures extracted from the hybrids. It can be concluded that the corn hybrids resulted in allelopathy on the coffee tree, inhibiting the growth in relation to the aerial part, root, weight of fresh and dry matter, as well as the leaf area index of the coffee tree.