The objective of this study was to evaluate morphological characteristics of coffee plants and soil water conservation in different agroforestry systems (SAF). The experiment was carried out in Barra do Choça, Bahia, in a private farm. Three different coffee fields were evaluated: (1) in a full sun (FS); (2) intercropping with Planthaginea sp. (AFS-P) and (3) association with avocado and inga trees (SAF-AI). In March/2007, rainy season, and in August/2007, season with lower rainfall indexes, the following parameters were measured: (a) shading levels of the systems, considering the photosynthetic incident radiation in relation to the global photosynthetic radiation; (b) soil water content (SWC) in a depth of 0-20 cm; and (c) morphological characteristics of coffee plants (individual leaf area - ILA, height and diameter of stem and canopy). The agroforestry systems promoted a high shading index (93.3% for AFS-P and 82.3% for AFSAI, in March, and 37.5% and 89.5% for AFS-AI and AFS-P in August, respectively). In the dry season, a higher SWC was found for FS (17.3%), followed by AFS-P (15.1%) and AFS- AI (9.5%). In all evaluations, ILA was higher in AFSs than in FS.
Shading; photosynthetic active radiation; Coffea arabica