Detection of the fruit‑ripeness stage in the pre-harvest of Coffea arabica

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the optimal number of plants to be sampled and which method best represents the green-maturation stage of the Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144 and Mundo Novo IAC 376-4 Coffea arabica cultivars. The experimental design consisted of four treatments: harvest of the fruits located in the central bud of 12 plagiotropic branches; harvest of the fruits located in the first bud, central bud, and last bud of 12 plagiotropic branches; harvest of all fruits of 12 plagiotropic branches; and harvest of all fruits of the plant. Both coffee cultivars were subjected to all treatments, with the respective evaluation of the percentage of green fruits. For the two cultivars, the first, second, and fourth treatments adequately represent the percentage of green fruits of the crop. It is recommended to use the collection of fruits from the central bud of the plagiotropic branches to determine the percentage of green fruits of both cultivars. For the Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144 and Mundo Novo IAC 376-4 cultivars, the optimal number of plants to be sampled to quantify the green phenological stage is 13 and 14, respectively.