Soil Microbiological Attributes and Soybean Grain Yield in Succession to Corn Intercropped with Forage in the Maranhão Eastern Cerrado

• Published in: International journal of plant production 2021-12, Vol.15 (4), p.669-677
• Main Authors: dos Santos, Smaiello Flores da Conceição Borges, de Souza, Henrique Antunes, de Araújo Neto, Raimundo Bezerra, Sagrilo, Edvaldo, Ferreira, Ane Caroline Melo, Carvalho, Suzane Pereira, de Brito, Lucelia de Cássa Rodrigues, Leite, Luiz Fernando Carvalho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Life Sciences; Plant Ecology; Plant Physiology
• ISSN: 1735-6814; 1735-8043
• DOI: 10.1007/s42106-021-00167-z

The use of forage in intercrops is preponderant for ensuring diverse and conservationist grain production systems in the Cerrado. This study aimed to evaluate different grass forage crops intercropped with corn and their influence on the soil biological activity and on the successor crop grain yield. The study was carried out in the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 harvests, with four replicates under a randomized block design. The treatments consisted of corn intercropped with four grass species: corn + Massai ( Megathyrsus maximus ), corn + Zuri ( Megathyrsus maximum cv. Zuri), corn + Marandu ( Urochloa brizantha ) and corn + Ruziziensis ( Urochloa ruziziensis ) and corn in single cultivation. The treatments were stablished in the 2017/2018 harvest and were followed by the subsequent soybean cultivation in the 2018/2019 harvest. In both cropping seasons the evaluated soil microbiological attributes and plant variables were: carbon and nitrogen from the microbial biomass (C-SMB and N-SMB), soil basal respiration, metabolic quotient, dehydrogenase enzymes, fluorescein diacetate activity, corn and forages yields. In the 2018/2019 harvest, soybean grain yield and leaf nutrients were also evaluated. N-SMB and dehydrogenase concentrations were higher in the corn + Zuri intercrop than in corn + Ruziziensis treatment in the 2017/2018 harvest. Corn grain yield is not affected by the intercropping with forage grasses. Single corn resulted in biological indicators that suggest stressful soil conditions, which resulted in lower soybean yield in succession. Soybean grown in succession to corn intercropped with forage grasses, had its average yield increased by 33%, compared to soybean grown in succession to single corn. The corn intercropped with tropical forages is an important tool for the sustainable increase of yield in the integrated production systems in the Maranhão Eastern Cerrado.