Performance of forage crops in wetlands used in the treatment of wastewater of coffee processing

Two winter grasses, ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and oats (Avena strigosa Schreb), were grown in constructed wetlands (SACs) used in the treatment of wastewater of coffee processing (ARC) with the aim to evaluate their agronomic performance. These forage crops were submitted to different organic loads (650 to 1500 kg ha(-1) d(-1) of COD), offered by the application of anaerobic effluent filters, used in the treatment of ARC. As a control treatment, the same plant species were grown in a Hoagland solution. The forage dry matter produced by over 53 days of monitoring SACs ranged from 7.4 to 14.0 and from 0.5 to 2.7 t ha(-1), and the crude protein yield ranged from 1017 to 2187 and 66.6 to 316.8 kg ha(-1) for ryegrass and oats, respectively. The results showed that, among the forages studied, the ryegrass was more suitable to be grown in SACs used in the post-treatment of ARC anaerobic effluent filters, presenting higher dry matter yield and crude protein, and therefore better adaptation to the system.