Influence of coffee pruning on the severity of frost damage

Frost damages in afield experiment of pruning types and systems for the cul tivars of Coffea arabica Catuai and Mundo Novo, were evaluated at Londrina (23 degrees 22'S, 52 degrees 10 W), State of Parana, southern Brazil, durin g the winter of 1990 and 1994. Pruning types evaluated were 'esqueletamento ' (cutting off all plagiotropic branches at 20-30 cm from the orthotropic b ranch), 'decote' (cutting off the orthotropic branch at 1.5 m and 2.0 m abo ve ground) and 'recepa' (cutting off the orthotropic branch at 0.8 m above ground), performed on all rows and on alternate rows, and on different sect ions of the plant. Results indicated that frost damage could increase accor ding to the type and height of pruning. The pruning type 'esqueletamento' a nd prunings at higher levels were more suitable for regions with frost risk . Under severe frost condition, pruning type did not affect the damage in a nyone of the treatments evaluated.