Canonical Correlation between Soil Attributes and Foliar of Conilon Coffee Trees

Abstract

The nutritional status of the coffee tree is influenced by the concentration of nutrients in the soil of the growing area. The objective of this work was to evaluate, using canonical correlation, the linear relationships between chemical attributes of soil and nutrients of leaf tissues in seminal coffee. The work was developed in a commercial crop located in the municipality of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, the southern region of the state of Espírito Santo. In the crop, an irregular sampling mesh was constructed, totalling 80 georeferenced points. The canonical correlation analysis was performed considering the original data observed in two consecutive conilon coffee harvests, 2015/16 and 2016/17, to verify the associations between a (dependent) group formed by foliar nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn) and an independent group formed by soil chemical attributes (pH, Ca, Al, K, S, P, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn). Even if nutrients are available, that is, available in a satisfactory amount in the soil, it can happen that it does not reach the leaf tissue, resulting in a deficiency for some nutrients. There was a direct relationship between the concentration of K in the leaf tissue and K in the soil in the two harvests. Other soil attributes, such as Organic Matter, Fe, Mn, and S, also influenced this relationship, showing that the soil attributes in the independent group interact together on the nutrients in the leaf tissue. There is an inverse relationship between the concentrations of K in the leaf tissue and the Mn in the soil in the two harvests, showing that the excess of Mn in the soil is influencing the K deficiency in the leaf tissue.