Leguminous rhizobia inoculation generates financial savings in Santa Catarina livestock

Abstract

In recent years the significant expansion of cultivated and improved pastures in Santa Catarina has resulted in the State becoming the fifth largest producer of milk in Brazil. In addition to this increase in area, the technological process of deployment and management of pastures was also enhanced. One of the practices that increased the most was the introduction of intercropping legumes with grasses. Since seeding legumes without the use of inoculants is not recommended, consequently there was also a proportional increase in the use of inoculants. This results in the nonuse of mineral nitrogen fertilizer in about 300.000 ha of pastures, generating annual savings of R$ 130.737.000,00 in the Santa Catarina livestock production chain.