Initial Development of Clonal Seedlings of Coffea canephora Submitted to Different Irrigation Depth

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different irrigation depth on initial development of Coffea canephora seedlings. The study was carried out at the farm Perobas, in the municipality of Rio Bananal, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized, with five treatments, comprising different depths of irrigation, being: 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 mm dia-1. At 55 days after planting the seedlings were evaluated for characteristics:stem diameter, plant height, dry mass of aerial part and dry mass of the root system. The stem diameter and dry mass of the root system presented an inverse behavior to the increase of the irrigation depth. The plant height and dry mass of aerial part presented an increasing effect in relation to the variation of the irrigation depth. The 5 mm dia-1 irrigation depth provides the best result for development in the initial stages of the root system of the seedlings, while the irrigation depth of 15 mm dia-1 favored a greater accumulation of dry mass of aerial part of the seedlings.