The use of green manure to establish diversity and equilibrium of a crop system is one of the paragons in modern agriculture.Soil samples and green manure species intercropped with maize were evaluated in a field experiment, from 1995 to 1997, carried out in an Aleudalf Soil, located in Piracicaba (SP)Maize seeds were planted at 0.90 meter spacing within lines totaling 50,000 plants per hectare.The treatments were performed with four green manure species: dwarf mucuna (Mucuna deeringiana (Bort.) Merr), dwarf pigean pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millisp), crotalaria (Crotalaria spectabilis Roth), jack beans (Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC.), and a control treatment without green manure.Seeds of green manure species were planted between maize lines at 45: cm distance without fertilization simultaneously with maize and 30 days after maize planting.In the first year, the soil was prepared under a conventional system; in the second year, cultivation was seedling under no tillage system, using randomized blocks in a split plot design with four replicates.The nutritional status and grain production of maize showed the best results in the system intercropped with jack beans.The positive effects of this species on maize productivity were more evident in the second year of the intercropped system, with seedling under no tillage system.The simultaneous planting of maize and green manure species is the most recommended management practice, because maize growth is not affected by any other planting activities.
Zea mays; intercropping; dwarf mucuna; dwarf pigean pea; crotalaria; jack beans