The objective of this work was to evaluate the straw production and the effect of different covering plants on some common bean characteristics, in no-tillage system, in Diamantina, MG, Brazil. A radomized block was used as experimental design, with three replications. Treatments were constituted of: Brachiaria decumbens, B. brizantha, Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania, P. maximum cv. Mombaça, Mucuna aterrima, Calopogonio mucunoides cv. Calopogônio, Dolichos lab lab, Cajanus cajan, Crotalaria juncea, fallow and control, on which common bean cultivar Talismã was planted. For covering, the weight of dry matter was evaluated and, for bean plants, the following data were analyzed: the final stand of plants, number of seeds, number of pods, number of seeds per bean, plants height, weight of 100 seeds and the yield of the culture. There was no significant difference among treatments for the variables number of seeds, number of beans, number of seeds per bean and plants height. The largest values of weight of 100 seeds and productivity of bean were obtained when cultivation was made in the no-tillage system on straw of P. maximum cv. Mombaça, B. brizantha, B. decumbens and P. maximum cv. Tanzania. These cover crops also produced sufficient amount of dry matter to make possible the no-tillage system.
Phaseolus vulgaris; dry matter; seeds
