Succession system of cover crops and maize with inoculation of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria

• Grant number: 25/11025-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Soil and Water Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Anderson Prates Coelho
• Grantee: João Rodrigo de Santiago Filho
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Understanding how the combination of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) andcover crops may optimize resources in a succession system at the beginning of the implementation ofa no-till system (NTS), while improving soil quality is essential for more sustainable agriculture. Theaim is to determine whether inoculation with PSB and the succession of cover crops and maize willimprove (i) development, (ii) nutrition, (iii) yield of these crops, and (iv) the soil biological qualityin the second year of NTS start. The experiment will be conducted in Jaboticabal/SP during the2025/26 season. In the first year, the project was financed with an SI grant from FAPESP. Theexperimental design will be a randomized block design with a split-plot scheme (9x2), with fourreplications. One of the factors under study will be 9 cover crop treatments in the autumn/winter(June): Ukrainian oat, mung bean, buckwheat, a mix of these three species, and fallow, which arespecies more adapted to autumn/winter. The cover crop seeds will be inoculated and non-inoculatedwith PSB, include 9 treatments. In succession, the AG8701 PRO4 maize hybrid will be grown, bothinoculated and non-inoculated, with sowing in September. The commercial product SolubPHOS willbe used for inoculation (Bacillus subtilis (CNPMS B2084 (BRM034840)) and Bacillus megaterium(CNPMS B119 (BRM033112)). The rate will be 250 mL ha-1for both cover crops and maize. Incover crops, the dry mass left on the soil and P straw accumulation will be evaluated, while in maizenutritional and physiological variables, growth, yield and P accumulation in grains and straw will beevaluated. After maize harvest, soil samples will be collected to determine soil biological variables. (AU)