Some methods are capable of directly determining the amount of water consumed by a plant, among them, the "heat dissipation method" or Granier method. This study aimed to: build and calibrate sensors of thermal dissipation; to evaluate the transpiration as a function of the position of insertion of the sensor in the plant (North, South, East or West) and to compare the results with the meteorological elements and the evapotranspiration of reference. In 24 coffee plants, thermal dissipation sensors adapted from Granier (1985) were installed, where the whole thermocouple and resistance were inserted into the needle. Density of the sap flow was obtained from the variation of the difference in temperature between the probes and accompanied transpiration according to the transition between day and night periods. The experiment was evaluated during 3 periods: before flowering, during the flowering and at the beginning of fruiting. There was no significant difference between the angles of insertion to the sap flow. Regarding the meteorological elements, radiation and relative humidity were the most determinant factors in transpiration, obtained by analysis of regressions with, r² coefficients between 0.84 and 0.80.
Coffea arabica; sap flow; irrigation; evapotranspiration
