Epamig produces bean seeds enriched with molybdenum

The Minas Gerais Agricultural Research Corporation (EPAMIG) has begun producing molybdenum-enriched BRSMG Marte bean seeds. The research is conducted at the Felixlândia Experimental Field in the state's central-western region. 

Molybdenum is a mineral micronutrient essential for plant development, used as a fertilizer to increase yield and quality. In food, the nutrient, found in legumes (beans, lentils, peas) and grains, also promotes benefits for human metabolism. 

"Although required in minimal doses, molybdenum plays a decisive role in the efficiency of nitrogen use by beans. Studies show that the nutrient can triple crop productivity, with even more significant effects in acidic or nitrogen-poor soils," says Pablo Teixeira, a researcher at Epamig.

Recent studies have shown that spraying bean plants with molybdenum at doses between 300 and 600 g/ha, at strategic stages of the crop's life cycle, produces seeds naturally enriched with the mineral, which increases bean yield when the soil is deficient in this micronutrient and insufficient nitrogen fertilization is used.

With performance similar to foliar application, these seeds also offer farmers the benefit of simplifying management and ensuring greater practicality in nitrogen nutrition for crops.

"The innovation helps reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizers. This is because the technology increases the efficiency of biological nitrogen fixation by soil bacteria and improves the use of nitrogen absorbed by plants. Furthermore, there is an environmental benefit: reduced emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas associated with nitrogen fertilization," explains the researcher.

Red bean 

Although traditionally cultivated in Zona da Mata and Campo das Vertentes, red beans have been expanding their area in Minas Gerais and are now also reaching other regions of the state, in addition to advancing to neighboring states, such as Espírito Santo. 

Among the main agronomic characteristics of the BRSMG Marte cultivar, we highlight its high productivity, which can exceed 45 bags per hectare, its early cycle of approximately 80 days, its erect architecture, favorable to mechanized harvesting, and its resistance to the main races of anthracnose and good tolerance to angular leaf spot. 

"These advantages have favored the gradual replacement of the 'Ouro Vermelho' cultivar, which has a prostrate shape and is highly susceptible to disease. Epamig's objective is simple and innovative: to provide a productive cultivar whose seeds already guarantee the supply of molybdenum to the bean plant," concludes Pablo Teixeira.