Inoculation with plant growth-promoting bacteria and reduction of nitrogen fertilizer in herbage accumulation and nutritional value of Mavuno grass

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Strategies that improve the use of nitrogen (N), by tropical forage grasses, can bring environmental and social gains. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the forage productivity and the nutritional value (NV) of the hybrid Urochloa spp. cv. ´Mavuno`, under inoculation with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) and doses of N. The experiment was carried out in the field, for a period of 14 months, in a randomized block design, with nine treatments and four replications in plots of 9 m². Seed inoculations were tested with: Azospirillum brasilense Ab-V5 and Ab-V6 strains; Pseudomonas fluorescens CCTB 03 and co-inoculation with Rhizobium tropici CIAT 899 and A. brasilense Ab-V6, combined with 50 and 100 kg ha-1 of added mineral N; fertilization with N-mineral with these doses, without inoculation and the control treatment, without N and without inoculation. The bacteria were inoculated to the grass seeds. The forage was evaluated by determining the shoot dry weight yield (SDWY) and the levels of crude protein (CP), neutral detergent insoluble fiber (NDF), acid detergent insoluble fiber (ADF) and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD). The results were subjected to analysis of variance by the F test (p ≤ 0.05) and compared to each other by the Scott-Knott test at 5% probability. Inoculation with PGPB resulted in greater SDWY when associated with a dose of 50 kg ha-1 of N. In plants inoculated with A. brasilense Ab-V5 + Ab-V6 and P. fluorescens CCTB 03, associated with a dose of 50 kg ha-1 of N-mineral, SDWY was similar to that obtained with double the dose of N in the absence of inoculation. The inoculation with PGPB resulted in an increase in the NV of Mavuno grass, with emphasis on A. brasilense Ab-V5 + Ab-V6 and P. fluorescens CCTB 03, associated with the dose of 100 kg ha-1 of N-mineral that improved the nutritional value in all evaluated items. The inoculation with A. brasilense Ab-V5 + Ab-V6 was the most promising, followed by P. fluorescens CCTB 03, mainly in association with 50 kg ha-1 of N.