**Author details**

*Coffee - Production and Research*

75.5 bags ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

CV-0 (85.6 bags ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

in G-28.

**5. Final remarks**

therefore causing a yield gap.

productive coffee trees.

water consumption by the plant in 2010 (**Figure 12**).

in G-7, and 71.1 bags ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

which in CV-0 were harvested 63.6 bags ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

was confirmed in the 2013 crop, in which 63.0 bags ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

the G-28 treatment presented higher yield (87.2 bags ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

maintenance of Brachiaria in the G-7 and G-28 treatments, which provided higher

was produced in CV-0;

) when compared with

in G-7 and 68.6 bags

in G-28 (data obtained through personal

The trend of higher production for management with additional gypsum

communication with consultants in the area). However, in the 2014 harvest, only

). However, when evaluating the general average of the first four seasons, it is observed that there is little difference between the evaluated managements, in

There have been strong droughts and short-time droughts in rainy season in the main coffee producing regions of Brazil. Although most of the soils used are deep and capable of storing a large volume of water, these soils have a small effective depth for the development of the root system due to severe chemical limitations,

Brazilian researchers have studied ways to overcome this problem, such as selecting drought tolerant plants. However, a strategy that has attracted the attention of farmers is the adoption of soil management systems that provide the best development of the coffee root system, with chemical and physical adequacy of soils. Deep tillage, maintenance of intercropped Brachiaria in the coffee plant interrow and additional gypsum play important roles in this management system. This is relevant information given that the interactions between soil and root have been considered as key elements for the maximization of crop production. Therefore, the set of practices previously mentioned in this chapter has alleviated the soil limitations caused by droughts, root growth and, consequently, the development of

). Management G-7 presented the lowest yield (57.5 bags

, 60.5 bags ha<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

**38**

Bruno Montoani Silva1 \*, Geraldo César de Oliveira1 , Milson Evaldo Serafim<sup>2</sup> , Carla Eloize Carducci3 , Érika Andressa da Silva1 , Samara Martins Barbosa1 , Laura Beatriz Batista de Melo1 , Walbert Junior Reis dos Santos4 , Thiago Henrique Pereira Reis<sup>5</sup> , César Henrique Caputo de Oliveira5 and Paulo Tácito Gontijo Guimarães5

1 Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Lavras, Brazil

2 Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of MatoGrosso, Brazil

3 Department of Agriculture, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Brazil

4 Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Southern Minas Gerais, Brazil

5 Agricultural Research Company of Minas Gerais (Epamig), Brazil

\*Address all correspondence to: brunom.silva@ufla.br

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
