We characterized the bacterial community in shoot and rhizosphere of healthy adult soybean plants grown in two differentially managed soils. Then, these communities were transplanted to seeds to assess their effect on seedling development. The bacterial communities of inoculated soybean seedlings were assessed through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and seedlings’ growth was measured. The diversity in the bacterial consortium inoculum prepared from the rhizosphere was higher than those from the shoot. However, the application of bacterial consortium in seedling had no influence on diversity. The resulting bacterial community of seedlings inoculated with bacterial consortium presented an enrichment of specific plant growth-promoting groups, such as Gammaproteobacteria (Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, and Xanthomonas). The predicted potential functions showed an increased abundance of functions related to plant protection and nutrition. The application of bacterial consortium from the shoot of soybean plants grown in the soil with a previous history of soybean cultivation increased the seedling radicle length, hypocotyl length, and total dry weight by 44%, 30%, and 29%, respectively. Our study showed that selecting a consortium of indigenous microbes as inoculants is a potential approach to enhance the use and impacts of plant beneficial microorganisms on plant growth and possibly productivity.

This article presents a review on the use of graphene in various segments, elucidating that this product can be used in various industrial sectors. These include mainly agriculture (as in large crops of high relevance, such as coffee), the food industry and the environment, as a plant growth stimulator and in fertilizers, nanoencapsulation and smart-release systems, antifungal and antibacterial agents, smart packaging, water treatment and ultrafiltration, contaminant removal, pesticide and insecticide quantitation, detection systems and precision agriculture. However, some challenges can be overcome before the graphene-based nanoparticle is used on a large scale. In this way, before using the product in the environment, it is necessary to determine whether the technology is safe for the soil-plant system and consumers. Furthermore, the cost of its use can also be a limiting factor depending on the level applied. Therefore, this review proposes to examine the diverse literature to explain the effects of the use of graphene in agriculture, plants and soil microorganisms. Accordingly, this article discusses and presents the possibilities of application of graphene in agriculture, plants and soil microorganisms.

Biomass sorghum is one of the most promising crops for the production of electricity through the burning in high-pressure boilers, due to its high calorific value, high yield, seed propagation, short cycle, and to the possibility of full mechanization of its agricultural processes. However, there is still a lack of information about its cultural practices. To this end, this research aimed to evaluate the influence of row spacing and plant population on the yield performance of biomass sorghum. The experimental design was a randomized block, in factorial scheme of 4 x 4, with four row spacings (0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1.1m), and four plant populations (80,000; 100,000; 120,000 and 140,000 plants ha^-1), with three replications. The characteristics evaluated were: plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, number of tillers per plant, fresh weight per plant and biomass. Total biomass yield was greatly influenced by the row spacing, showing a sharp reduction when row spacing increased, in the two years of study, changing from 180.27 to 114.42t ha^-1 in the 2012/13 crop year, and from 146.50 to 102.56t ha^-1 in the 2013/14 crop year, for 0.5 and 1.1m between rows, respectively. The lowest yields observed in the second year of the study were due to unfavorable weather conditions in the period.

Ao lado da cana-de-açúcar, planta tradicionalmente empregada na produção de etanol, o sorgo sacarino apresenta-se como uma excelente opção sob os pontos de vista agronômico e industrial, por oferecer as vantagens de ser uma planta tolerante a déficit hídrico de ciclo curto, ser totalmente mecanizada, possuir colmos suculentos com açúcares totalmente fermentáveis e com produção de massa verde variando de 40 a 60 t ha-1.

This study proposes to examine the potential use of Bacillus aryabhattai in pre-sprouted seedlings of sugarcane inoculated with the microorganism when subjected to different regimes of water supply after transplanting. The experiment was laid out in a randomized-block design with a complete 3 × 2 × 5 factorial arrangement, in five replicates. The factors were represented by pre-sprouted seedlings of three sugarcane varieties (IAC 911099, RB 855156 and CTC 20), two seedling types (inoculated and not inoculated with B. aryabhattai) and five frequencies of water supply, which provided the ability of return to 100% soil field capacity, at every 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 days. Plant mortality, plant height, number of leaves, stalk diameter and number of tillers were evaluated throughout the experimental period. At the end of the study, the shoot dry matter (SDM) and root dry matter (RDM) contents of the plants were measured. The number of leaves on the plant was affected only in isolation, according to the cultivar, without effects of the other studied factors. There was a double interaction effect between the factors of variety and inoculation (V*I) for the variables of SDM, stalk diameter and height; and between frequency and inoculation (F*I) for stalk diameter. There was a triple interaction effect between variety, inoculation and frequency (V*I*F) for the RDM variable. Thus, the use of B. aryabhattai as an inoculant in pre-sprouted seedlings of sugarcane at the time of seedling formation can improve plant development after transplanting depending on the cultivar used, especially in IAC 911099 and RB 855156.

Rubber tree [Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex Adr. de Juss.) Muell-Arg] anthracnose panel canker disease resistance, caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Sacc., and growth and yield characters were assessed at three years old in the nursery, in 18 half-sib progenies. There were highly significant (P < 0.01) genetic differences among progenies for most characters. The genetic component of variance accounted for 3.37, 6.07, 12.74, 12.13, 19.82 and 3.58% of the phenotypic variance for anthracnose-infected area, anthracnose lesion stripe length, yield, girth, virgin bark thickness and total number of latex vessel rings, respectively. Narrow-sense heritability estimates for the above characters were 13.45, 24.30, 50.97, 48.52, 79.30 and 14.30%, respectively. No significant genetic correlations were found among anthracnose panel canker resistance, yield and growth characters. The frequency distribution of anthracnose-infected area and anthracnose lesion stripe length suggests polygenic control. Selecting the best three progenies out of 18 progenies would result in a genetic gain of 12.87 and 24.24% for infected area and lesion stripe length, respectively. The best five selected individuals out of 50 individuals within each progeny would result in a genetic gain of 9.47 and 24.62%, with a total gain of 22.34 and 48.87% for these two characters, respectively.