Maize Productivity, Mycorrhizal Assessment, Chemical and Microbiological Soil Attributes Influenced by Maize-Forage Grasses Intercropping

ABSTRACT

Abstract Mycorrhizae are important components of agroecosystems and the diversification of crops stimulates the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the participation of symbiosis in plant growth. This experiment examined mycorrhizal assessment, chemical and microbiological soil attributes in a maize-forage grasses intercropping compared to a maize-monocropping system. A complete randomized block design was used with crop systems installed under no-till management with three replicates, as follow Maize (Zea mays L.); Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Aruana; Urochloa humidicola (Rendle.) Schweickerdt.; Maize-P. maximum intercropping and Maize-U. humidicola intercropping. In 2015/2016 season, intercropping maize with Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Aruana or Urochloa humidicola (Rendle.) Schweickerdt. promoted similar effects (Tukey test, p<0.05) to monocropped maize under no-till system on soil chemical and biochemical parameters related to carbon cycling in the soil surface layer, as well as the dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in tropical soils, managed for a period of more than six years. Similar grain yield was verified among maize crop systems. This result indicates that intercropping maize-tropical forage grasses represents an alternative for monocropped grains, a very common practice that is used in intensive management, being able to guarantee equivalent productivities and to combine grain production with crop-livestock systems. As a result, intercropping promotes the diversification of the property's income source, adding environmental gains, such as more efficient land use by cultivated plants, keeping soil constantly cultivated, storing carbon and contributing to minimize the impact of climate change on agricultural systems and the sustainability of food production.