Plant and Soil

, Volume 78, Issue 3, pp 367–379 | Cite as

Soil acidity factors and nodulation ofTrifolium repens

  • M. Wood
  • J. E. Cooper
  • A. J. Holding
Article
Received:

Summary

Effects of factors associated with soil acidity (low pH, low calcium, high aluminium and high manganese) on theTrifolium repens-Rhizobium trifolii symbiosis were investigted under laboratory conditions using an axenic solution-culture technique. 200 μM manganese increased root elongation in the range pH 4.3–5.5, but had no effect on root hair formation, the number of Rhizobium in the rhizosphere, or nodule formation. Root elongation and root hair formation were unaffected at pH 4.3 when 500 or 1000μM calcium was supplied, whereas multiplication of Rhizobium in the rhizosphere and nodulation were inhibited at pH 4.3 and 4.7.50–1000μM calcium had no effect either on the multiplication of Rhizobium in the range pH 4.3–5.5, or on nodule formation in the absence of aluminium.

50 μM aluminium inhibited, root elongation and root hair formation at pH 4.3 and 4.7; the effect on root elongation was reduced by increasing the calcium concentration from 50 to 1000μM. 50μM aluminium also inhibited Rhizobium multiplication in the rhizosphere and reduced nodule formation at pH 5.5 (at which aluminium precipitated out of solution), but root elongation and root hair formation were unaffected. These, effects of aluminium at pH 5.5 may explain the poor response to inoculation by white clover in acid mineral soils after liming.

Key words

Acidity Aluminium Calcium Manganese Nodulation pH Rhizobium Rhizosphere Root elongation Root hairs Trifolium repens White clover 
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Copyright information

© Martinus Nijhoff/Dr W. Junk Publishers 1984

Authors and Affiliations

  • M. Wood
    • 1
  • J. E. Cooper
    • 2
  • A. J. Holding
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of Agricultural and Food BacteriologyThe Queen's University of BelfastBelfastNorthern Ireland
  2. 2.Agricultural and Food Bacteriology Research DivisionDepartment of Agriculture for Northern IrelandBelfastNorthern Ireland

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