Abstract
ABSTRACT The Azospirillum brasilense inoculation is usually carried out via seed. However, this bacterium presents passive penetration in the plant, what makes it possible to inoculate the crops using other methods. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of A. brasilense inoculation methods on the emergence and initial growth of corn and sorghum, under greenhouse conditions. A randomized block design, with four replications, in a 4 x 2 factorial scheme, was used. The first factor consisted of a control treatment (without inoculation) and three inoculation methods: via seed, via sowing furrow and via leaf spray. The second factor was composed by two hybrids of corn and two of sorghum. The application of A. brasilense to the seed can reduce the emergence percentage and the emergence speed index of corn seedlings, depending on the genotype, but its application does not influence the initial growth of the plants. The A. brasilense inoculation via seed and via sowing furrow can reduce the emergence and increase the mean emergence time of sorghum seedlings, depending on the genotype. The A. brasilense inoculation via seed results in an increase in the dry mass of the root system of sorghum plants.
Highlights
Nitrogen fertilization in non-leguminous crops, such as corn (Zea mays) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), is one of the costliest factors in the production process (Nunes et al 2015)
The first factor was composed of three A. brasilense inoculation methods and one control
There was no difference between the A. brasilense inoculation methods and the control for the Impacto hybrid (Table 2)
Summary
Nitrogen fertilization in non-leguminous crops, such as corn (Zea mays) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), is one of the costliest factors in the production process (Nunes et al 2015). There is a great interest in the development of alternatives for the supply of nitrogen during the production of these crops, in order to reduce production costs. The biological fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by diazotrophic bacteria is one of the most promising alternatives. Among their species, Azospirillum is the most studied one (Morais et al 2015) and, currently, Azospirillum brasilense has gained more prominence and has been used commercially (Kappes et al 2013). In addition to the nitrogen fixation, other beneficial effects of these bacteria have already been identified, such as stimulating the root system growth (Bashan & Bashan 2005) and synthesizing phytohormones (Cassán et al 2011).
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