Fig. 2

Grain yield (kg ha⁻¹) of wheat cultivar BRS Pardela in Ponta Grossa, PR, in response to different managements with N-fertilizer and inoculants with Azospirillum brasilense. All treatments received 24 kg of N ha⁻¹ at sowing and N-treatments referred to the complementary N-fertilization applied at 35 days after emergence: 0 N (no N fertilizer); 100 N (100 % N); 75 N (25 % reduction in the complementary N fertilization). Inoculation treatments consisted of SI (standard seed inoculation at sowing), IPF (inoculation in the furrow at sowing), ILS (inoculation by leaf spray at the tiller stage 3), ISS (inoculation by soil spray at the tiller stage 3), with one D1 (1.74 × 10⁴ cells seed⁻¹ or 1.74 × 10⁴ cells plant⁻¹); D2 or D4 doses. Yields were obtained from grains harvested in the central lanes of each replicate (7.2 m²), dried to 13 % of moisture and estimated to 1 ha. Means of six replicates and different letters indicate statistical difference (Duncan’s test at p ≤ 0.05)