THE RESPONSE OF COFFEA-ARABICA L TO WEED COMPETITION

From 1985 to 1988 criteria of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) indicating weed competition effects were investigated in a field experiment at San Jose de las Lajas, Cuba. The knowledge of such criteria forms the basis for the establishment of location and crop specific weed control systems. It was found that during the dry period from November to April and February to April weed competition was most serious. Among the criteria, the stem diameter and the length of non-woody branches responded best to weed competition during the vegetative and generative stages of coffee, respectively. Otherwise almost all criteria showed an improvement of coffee growth when weed competition was eliminated by clean weeding with a rotary cultivator between crop rows.