The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of seed inoculation with Rhizobium tropici and nitrogen and molybdenum fertilization on the performance of the common-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). A complete randomized block design with four replicates was used, in a factorial arrangement 2x2x2, with the combinations of absence and presence of seed inoculation and nitrogen (N) and molybdenum (Mo) fertilization. Seeds inoculation was just before sowing with a peat inoculante composed by the strain CIAT 899 (SEMIA 4077), N was provided at sowing (10 kg.ha-1) and coverage (50 kg.ha-1) when the plants showed the third trifoliate sheet expand and Mo was applied by foliar spraying with 60 g.ha-1 when plants were at beginning of flowering . No effect of treatments on the dry mass of roots and the number of pods per plant was observed. N fertilization reduced nodulation of plants, however, N fertilization lead to an increase in height and dry mass of bean shoots. It was also observed that plants fertilized with N but in the absence of Mo shoed heavier grains. The interactions between N and Mo fertilization with inoculation of seed negatively affected the leaf N content and the number of grains per pod. The inoculation of seed in beans provided grain yields similar to those provided by the treatment with N fertilization.
Phaseolus vulgaris; Rhizobium tropici; biological nitrogen fixation; molybdenum
