Effect of fruit load of the first coffee harvests on leaf gas exchange

Coffee production between the first and second harvest presents a difference in the fruit load with the plant age that could affect the leaf gas exchange. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of the increase in fruit load that occurs between the first and second harvest of the Coffea arabica L. production cycle on the measured gas exchange, at the two phenological stages of the fruit. The accessions E057, E318, E338 and E554 were used, as well as a completely randomized design, with three replications, using the accessions as treatments and the harvest measurements during the production cycle as the repeated measures. The variables yield per tree, number of fruits, absolute growth rates for height and stein, leaf area, leaf-to-fruit ratio and leaf gas exchange were measured across the phenological stages of fruit filling and ripening. The increase in the fruit load that occurs with age in the second harvest, if compared to the first harvest, showed a positive and significant effect on the net assimilation rate that was not expected for the obtained leaf-to-fruit ratios. Likewise, the differences in the assimilation rates were higher during the fruit-filling stage. This result suggests that the source-sink relationship may vary with the crop age and fruit phenological stage, and is not entirely depend on the leaf-to-fruit ratio.