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Mycorrhizal inoculants can contribute to the development of corn crops by improving crop productivity. In this sense, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a mycorrhizal inoculant on the dynamics of root system growth, gas exchange, corn crop productivity, and microbial activity in the rhizospheric soil in a no-till area with different levels of available soil phosphorus. The experiment was conducted during the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 growing seasons. At 75 days after plant emergence, root morphological parameters (total root length (cm), average root diameter (mm), root surface area (cm2), and root volume), shoot biomass production, P content in the plant shoots, gas exchange, and microbiological attributes of the rhizospheric soil of corn were evaluated. At the end of the cycle, corn grain yield was determined. A beneficial effect of AMF inoculation was observed on the root and shoot parameters regardless of soil P level. Under conditions of evenly distributed rainfall during the experiment (2019/2020 season), AMF inoculation contributed to a 90% increase in acid phosphatase activity and a 76% increase in microbial biomass carbon (C-BIO), independent of soil P level. In contrast, under water deficit conditions (2020/2021 season), AMF inoculation provided a 29% increase in grain yield. We concluded that introducing a commercial mycorrhizal inoculant in corn benefits root system morphological parameters and physiological traits, and favors the activity of enzymes related to increased P availability, contributing to increased crop productivity in a no-till system.

ABSTRACT Chickpea is a winter legume with prospects for worldwide consumption growth, mainly demanded by Asian countries. Thus, studies on its growth, such as the leaf area (LA), are important to determine proper management practices for its cultivation. The objective of this work was to determine a mathematical model able to estimate the leaf area (LA) of chickpea in a non-destructive method. For this, a field experiment was carried out in the county of Santa Maria (RS), with five cultivars available in the national market. Several leaves of each cultivar were collected, and their greatest width (W) and longest length (L) were measured. With the aid of a scanner, these leaves were photocopied, and their LA (cm2) was determined using software. With the power model, models relating to LA and its dimensions were determined. These models were tested using various statistics, with independent data. The results indicate that for the cultivars BRS Aleppo, BRS Kalifa, Jamu, and BRS Toro the best model is LA= 0,0940.(L)1.8483 and for the cultivar BRS Cícero the best model is LA = 0,1092.L2.1815.