Abstract
The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of inoculating Azospirillum sp. and two levels of nitrogen on the productive characteristics of hard yellow corn variety ‘Insignia 800’ under the conditions of Nuevo Imperial, Cañete (central coast of Peru). A randomized complete block design with five treatments and four replications was used in a field experiment using the commercial corn hybrid ‘Insignia 800’. The treatments were two levels of nitrogen (90 and 180 kg N ha-1), plus one or two applications to the foliage of Azospirillum sp. (1.08 x 107 CFU per plant), and a control treatment (without inoculation). Ten agronomic variables related to productive traits were evaluated. Treatment comparison was executed with the Scott Knott test at the 5% significance level using the Infostat program. Inoculation with Azospirillum sp. did not significantly affect the grain yield per hectare, grain weight per plot, shelling percentage, grain depth, number of ears per plant and diameter of the cob, but it influenced significantly some productive traits such as cob weight per plot, grain weight per plant, cob diameter and ear length, as well as a high benefit-cost ratio due to inoculation. Inoculating the plant foliage with Azospirillum sp. had a significant effect and greater economic efficiency for some productive characteristics of the hard yellow corn cv. ´Insignia 800´, and did not significantly affect grain yield.
Highlights
The use of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) for the formulation of biofertilizers has become one of the most promising clean technologies for the development of sustainable agriculture
The results obtained by some authors show that when inoculants are used, there is an increase in corn yield due to the application of beneficial microorganisms (Martínez et al, 2018; Alvarado et al, 2018), which coincides in part with the findings in this study, not for grain yield
As proposed by Zambonin et al (2019), in the case of inoculation with A. brasilense, the inoculation treatment did not interfere with grain yield and corn yield components; in the present investigation a growth-promoting effect was shown by the inoculation of Azospirillum sp. in the hard yellow corn hybrid but without significantly affecting the grain yield under field conditions in Cañete
Summary
The use of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) for the formulation of biofertilizers has become one of the most promising clean technologies for the development of sustainable agriculture. Among these bacteria, the ones that stand out the most, are those of the Azospirillum genus. The ones that stand out the most, are those of the Azospirillum genus These bacteria have the capacity to fix nitrogen, solubilize phosphorus, produce cytokinins, gibberellins and auxins, and reduce nitrates, making them useful as bio fertilizers that improve agricultural product quality without generating consequences to the environment (Bashan et al, 2013; Fibach-Paldi et al, 2012). According to Walters et al (2018), some corn landraces grown under traditional agricultural practices with little or no fertilizer could have developed strategies to improve yield in conditions of low nitrogen content in the soil, and in these landraces, from 29 % -82% of assimilated nitrogen was derived from atmospheric nitrogen (N2)
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