Abstract

This study was performed to determine if the contribution of biological N2 fixation (BNF) associated with Brazilian sugarcane cultivars could be increased by the inoculation with N2-fixing bacteria. The field experiment was planted with two sugarcane cultivars, inoculated or not, with five N2-fixing bacteria. All plant tissues, including belowground, were harvested for determination of dry matter, N accumulation and 15N abundance at five occasions until 450 days after planting. Inoculation significantly increased total N accumulation in the aerial tissue of cultivar RB867515 from 147 to 199 kg N ha−1 and cultivar RB92579 from 126 to 192 N kg ha−1. At final harvest 15N abundances of entire sugarcane plants compared to that of plant-available N indicated that BNF inputs were over 64%. Total N derived from BNF and the soil was increased by inoculation, by 50 and 17 kg N ha−1 and 36 and 67 kg N ha−1, for the two cultivars respectively. Without inoculation, the two sugarcane cultivars obtained over 65% of N from BNF. Inoculation with the five component inoculant increased N accumulation from soil and BNF but with little impact on the proportion of N derived from BNF.

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