BIOMASS PRODUCTION AND CARBON SEQUESTRATION OF BRACHIARIA RUZIZIENSIS IN THE COFFEE BETWEEN

Brazilian agricultural production has been implementing sustainable production technologies that help producers achieve high productivity at reduced cost, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The present work, faced with the demand for studies on this subject, aimed to quantify the production of shoot matter, carbon sequestration and nutrient flow of the cover plant Brachiaria ruziziensis (treatment 1) and spontaneous weeds (treatment 2) between the rows. of the coffee tree and to identify the interference of the coffee tree and cultivar spacing. The experiment was carried out in the field in a completely randomized design with 15 replications. Treatment 1 was allocated in the Bourbon plot planted with the cultivar Bourbon Amarelo (IAC J10) at a spacing of 4.0 m between rows and 0. 66 m between plants where Brachiaria was mechanically sown in four rows spaced at 0.15 m using 8 kg of seeds/ha. Treatment 2 was installed in the Rubi plot with the cultivar Rubi (MG 1192) with a spacing of 0.60 m between plants and 3.90 m between the rows where weeds or weeds developed. The aerial part of both treatments was collected at 60 DAS (days after sowing) in an area of 2 m² for the extrapolation of the production of fresh and dry mass in kg.ha-1. These samples were also analyzed in the laboratory for the quantification of nutrients in dry matter. Brachiaria ruziziensis obtained higher fresh and dry mass and concentration of nutrients compared to spontaneous plants, however it did not differ in terms of carbon sequestration.