The objective of this study was to evaluate, through path analysis, the influence of agronomic characters as a function of foliar spraying and furrow inoculation by Azospirillum brasilense on soybean yield. Two experiments were conducted in the crop years of 2013/14 and 2014/15, grown in Lavras, Minas Gerais. In the first experiment, the experimental design was a randomized block in a factorial 4 × 6, four cultivars (Anta 82 RR ) and two treatments with A. brasilense (inoculated and non-inoculated) with three replications. For both experiments, it was established plant height, phytomass of the aerial part, plant height at harvest, first legume insertion, number of legumes, number of grains per legume, mass of one thousand grains and grain yield. In the study with foliar spraying of soybean with A. brasilense, plant height at harvest was the only variable that had a direct effect on soybean grain yield. As such, in the study with furrow inoculation of A. brasilense in soybean, plant height at harvest and number of vegetables were the variables with the greatest direct effects on soybean grain yield.

The economic and scientific interest in Hancornia speciosa Gomes (mangabeira) has increased in recent years, especially due to the commercialization of its fruits and the extraction of natural compounds with high pharmacological potential. This paper aims to determine and correlate the main physical and biometric characteristics of fruits and seeds of mangaba tree, as well as identifying the most appropriate substrate for the seedling emergence test. The following physical and biometric traits were measured in 100 fruits and 100 seeds: longitudinal diameter, transverse diameter, thickness, fresh mass, pulp fresh mass, volume, number of seeds. To identify the best substrate, a completely randomized design with two treatments (substrates) and ten replications of 20 seeds was used. The evaluated substrates were: sand and commercial substrate (Plantmax HT®). The shoot height, root length, stem diameter, total dry mass, and the relation between shoot height and stem diameter were evaluated at 50 days after sowing. Mangaba fruits and seeds showed great variations in their biometric traits, in addition to significant and positive correlation predominant in most characteristics. High fruit pulp yield can be optimized with the selection of plants with fruits show greater fresh mass due to the high degree of association between this characteristic and pulp yield. The use of the commercial substrate resulted in higher shoot height, greater number of leaves, and higher shoot height/stem diameter ratio.

Technological advances have demonstrated the need for intellectual property rights, and patent granting is one of its most widespread forms. This includes the protection of inoculant formulations for agriculture, in which Brazil is a leader. This study aimed to analyze the number of patents for formulations of biological inoculants for agriculture in Brazil and the microorganisms used. An advanced search was performed in the National Institute of Industrial Property database, using the title and abstract fields. The indexers included inoculant, bioinoculant, endophyte, endophytic, fungus, bacteria, Rhizobium, Azospirillum and Gluconacetobacter. The inoculant formulation patents were grouped by the number of files per decade, number of patents per holder(s), characterization of granted patents, international patent classification, and main genera of fungi and bacteria used in inoculant formulations per decade. The number of patents filed for inoculant formulations in the last four decades increased from 7 in the first decade (1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990) to 37 from 2011-2020. In the first decades of study, the use of Rhizobium in inoculants stood out, followed by other genera of fungi and bacteria. However, most inoculant patent applications are still denied, considering data from 1981 to 2020. This may be partially due to the low reproducibility of inoculant results, as microorganism activity is highly affected by climate, soil, plant cultivars and crop management. The percentage of acceptance equal to or higher than 50 % in the number of applied patents for using endophytic microorganisms may be because this group of microorganisms acts mainly inside plants and is thus more protected from the influence of climate and some soil and management factors. The growing number of patent applications in the last 40 years demonstrates the business and technological development interest in inoculants in Brazil.

Cover crops are important components of sustainable agricultural systems under no‐till conditions. However, in the Brazilian Cerrado region, plant growth and straw production on the soil surface have been hampered by insufficient soil water availability during off‐season. A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of silicon fertilization on the morphological and physiological characteristics of cover crops under drought stress conditions. We hypothesized that silicon could mitigate the adverse effects of drought stress because of its role in improving the photosynthetic process and antioxidant defence mechanisms of plants. Thus, two silicon fertilizer levels (0 and 180 mg/kg of Silicon), three grass cover crops (Urochloa brizantha cv. BRS Piatã, U. brizantha cv. Marandu and Pennisetum glaucum cv. ADR 300) and three drought stress levels (100% pot capacity (PC): well‐watered conditions, 50% PC: moderate water stress and 25% PC: severe water stress) were laid out as a randomized block design in a factorial arrangement and replicated four times. Morphophysiological characteristics were recorded after 22 days of exposure to drought stress. Drought stress decreased the growth rate, leaf area (LA), net CO2 assimilation rate and stomatal conductance of the three cover crops. However, with the application of silicon fertilizer, a portion of the negative effects caused by water restriction could be mitigated, even though there were differences in the responses to silicon fertilization and water stress levels among the cover crop species. Silicon application potentiated the tillering and plant growth rate and increased the photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency of U. brizantha (cv. Marandu and cv. BRS Piatã) plants grown under moderate drought stress conditions.

The black angico (Anadenanthera macrocarpa) contains some phenolic compounds, such as flavonoids and tannins, which are considered as secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties and can be used in the nematodes management. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial (2 x 5) + 1 (leaf and bark x concentrations (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 g L -1 ) + control water-only), with five replications. The cotton seedlings were inoculated with suspension of 4,400 juveniles and eggs of M. incognita. The extracts were applied on soil in a total of 100 mL per pot, in four installments of 25 mL each, in intervals of 15 days . After 60 days of the extracts application, agronomic parameters and parasitism characterist ics were evaluated. Plant height and fresh mass of aerial part presented considerable gain with application of leaf extracts. All extracts, regardless of concentration, showed independent suppressive effect to M. incognita. The black angico extracts presented potential capacity to control gall nematodes by the presence of metabolite compounds that affect the plants protection. These results reinforce the need of further studies regarding the isolation of chemical compounds with nematicide action.