DRY BEAN CULTIVAR IAC ALVORADA UNDER DIFFERENT RATES OF RHIZOBIUM INOCULANT IN THE PLANTING FURROW

INTRODUCTION: No publications were found regarding liquid inoculation in the planting furrow of dry bean, which indicates a demand for investigations to assist the producer in deciding which method of inoculation to adopt. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the viability of liquid inoculation in the planting furrow and determine the best application rate of inoculant, using the dry bean cultivar IAC Alvorada. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A field experiment was conducted in a no-till planting system in the 2014/2015 crop season in a Latossolo Vermelho distrófico in the municipality of Lambari, MG, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks with three replications and eight treatments, involving five application rates of liquid inoculant in the planting furrow (0, 120, 240, 480, and 720 mL ha-1), liquid seed inoculation (40 mL kg-1), and two controls without inoculation: one with N-urea (80 kg ha-1 N, ½ at sowing and ½ in topdressing, between the V3 and V4 stages of the crop cycle) and another without mineral N. The experimental unit (14.4 m2) consisted of six four-meter-length rows, spaced at 0.6 m, and the area effectively used was the four central rows. All the plots received base fertilization of 110 kg ha-1 of P2O5 (simple superphosphate) and 40 kg ha-1 of K2O (potassium chloride), mechanically applied during furrowing. In addition, all levels of inoculation received 20 kg Nurea ha-1, so as to meet the recommendations of Soares et al. (2016). Sowing was manual at the density of 15 seeds per meter and the cultivar used was IAC Alvorada, of semi-upright plant architecture and moderate resistance to anthracnose (Carbonell et al., 2008).