Nitrogen management in corn, with or without inoculation with Azospirillum spp

Abstract

Corn is a crop of major economic importance in Brazil and the world, whether for human or for animal nutrition. It is one of the most demanding crops in fertilizer, especially nitrogen. Nitrogen is one of the nutrients that provides the most significant effects on increasing the yield, besides composing proteins, enzymes and nucleic acids. However, nitrogen fertilizers used extensively in modern agriculture are derived mostly from fossil fuels are non-renewable sources, besides being one of the most expensive inputs in the production cost of corn. Consequently, new technologies are being used to decrease the use of mineral nutrients derived from non-renewable material, as is the case of diazotrophs bacteria. Among these bacteria, there are the genus Azospirillum, which is fixing atmospheric N2, which is associated with the rhizosphere of plants can contribute to the nitrogen nutrition of maize. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate doses of nitrogen in coverage, with and without seed inoculation with nitrogen fixing bacteria Azospirillum brasiliense harvests in spring/summer 2012/13 in single corn, and corn in autumn 2013, intercropped with Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraés on yield components and grain yield of maize.(AU)