The addition of vinasse on sugar cane plantations nearby alcohol fermentation plants is a common practice. Legumes are recommended to be intercropped with sugar cane. A greenhouse experiment was carried out with the objective of verifying the influence of continuous application of vinasse (0; 100 and 1000 m³/ha/year) at six month interval during three years on soil rhizobia which nodulate peanuts, soybeans, dry-beans and crotalaria. Controls without vinasse and with efficient Rhizobium sp. strain were maintained. The effect of 2,4 D application on the 100 m³ vinasse/ha treatment was also studied. Although results were variable and dependent on crop, the addition of vinasse influenced the rhizobia population, causing for instance, reductions on nodulation of peanuts and increases on that of crotalaria; no effects were observed either on drybeans or soybeans. Indigenous population of soybean Rhizobiun was inexpressive. The herbicide treatment showed tendency to favour nodulation and consequently N2 fixation.
indigenous rhizobia; sugar cane stillage; leguminous plant