Maize growth promotion by inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense and metabolites of Rhizobium tropici enriched on lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs)

AMB Express

Table 2 Effect of Azospirillum brasilense strains CNPSo 2083 and CNPSo 2084 and of enriched metabolites of R. tropici strain CIAT 899 applied to the seeds at sowing or by leaf spray at the V3 stage on plant growth (shoot dry weight, SDW; plant height, PH), shoot N (content [NS] and total N accumulated in shoots [TNS]) at 57 and 51 days after sowing (DAS), and grain (yield) at the physiological maturity of maize hybrid DOW 2B 707 HX

Treatment	Ponta Grossa					Cachoeira Dourada
	57 DAS				Maturity	51 DAS				Maturity
	SDW (g pl⁻¹)	PH (cm)	NS (g kg⁻¹)	TNS (mgN pl⁻¹)	Yield (kg ha⁻¹)	SDW (g pl⁻¹)	PH (cm)	N (g kg⁻¹)	TNS (mgN pl⁻¹)	Yield (kg ha⁻¹)
Non-inoculated control	56.1^ns	252^ns	23.04^ns	1292^ns	8406 b	33.1 c	234^ns	21.16^ns	700 b	6310 b
Seed inoculated (Azospirillum)	58.3	260	23.86	1391	8850 b	44.1 a	242	21.00	926 a	6567 b
Seed inoculated (Azospirillum + enriched metabolites)	52.7	253	22.64	1193	9225 a	40.8 ab	243	21.94	895 a	7373 a
Leaf spray inoculation (Azospirillum)	55.0	258	22.45	1235	8567 b	36.9 bc	241	21.10	779 b	6543 b
Leaf spray inoculation (Azospirillum + enriched metabolites)	55.2	256	22.71	1254	9256 a	36.4 bc	238	21.06	766 b	7286 a

Field experiments performed in Ponta Grossa and Cachoeira Dourada, Brazil, in the summer crop season of 2012/2013. Means (n = 6) on the same column which are followed by different letters are significantly different (p ≤ 0.10, Duncan test)
n.s. statistically non-significant