Desenvolvimento inicial do cafeeiro (Coffea arabica L.) transplantado no campo com e sem saquinhos

The implementation phase of coffee cultivation is crucial for establishing the crop in the field. It is a fact that healthy and well-developed seedlings exhibit vigorous growth and a well-formed root system. The traditional method of transplanting coffee seedlings involves completely removing the bag, which has low operational efficiency and requires a lot of labor. Brazil is the world’s largest producer and exporter of coffee, and coffee is currently the second most consumed beverage, necessitating adaptation and maximum production efficiency expected by the market. As such, studies have been seeking answers to the theory that completely removing this bag is unnecessary. Furthermore, this work aimed to evaluate the development of coffee plants in the first year after transplanting in the field, with and without removing polyethylene bags from the seedlings, by assessing plant height and the number of plagiotropic branches. The experiment was conducted in an area of the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Minas Gerais (IFMG) – Bambuí Campus, using a randomised block design (RBD) with two treatments (seedlings transplanted with bags and seedlings transplanted without bags) and 10 repetitions, totalling 20 experimental plots, with 120 plants in total. Evaluations were carried out when the plants reached 1 year and six months. The data obtained from the evaluations were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the F test at a 5% probability level. No significant differences were observed between the treatments for the two evaluated characteristics (plant height and number of plagiotropic branches).