Abstract
Most of the production of lentil (Lens culinaris) on the Great Plains occurs on soils that are free of indigenous Rhizobium leguminosarum. Inoculation is required to increase yields through N2 fixation. A screening program to evaluate the effectiveness of R. leguminosarum strains for lentil was initially carried out under controlled environments followed by an evaluation under field conditions. In two separate growth room experiments, the effectiveness of 185 and 24 different strains of R. leguminosarum were tested for Laird and Eston lentil. Significant differences between strains in number of nodules, shoot weight and nitrogenase activity (acetylene reduction activity, ARA) were found for lentil grown for 5 weeks. When lentil were grown for 7 weeks, significant differences between strains in number of nodules, total plant weight, total N, and % N were observed.
Fourteen strains plus Nitragin ‘C’ inoculant were selected for further field testing on Eston and Laird lentil at two locations in 1986 and one site in 1987. Inoculation increased yield up to 135%. Percent Ndfa and total N2 fixed ranged from 0 to 76 and 0 to 105 kg ha-1, respectively. N2-fixing activity was site specific and higher spring soil NO3-levels resulted in lower N2-fixing activity. Depending on site and growing conditions, strains 99A1 and I-ICAR-SYR-Le20 appeared to be superior to the other strains tested. A good agreement was found between the estimates for N2 fixation based upon the 15N-isotope dilution and the classical N difference methods. Number of nodules, dry weight of nodules and ARA of Eston and Laird lentil grown under growth room conditions failed to show positive correlations with total dry matter production, total N or total N2 fixed of field grown lentil. However, total plant weight and total N of lentil grown under growth room conditions were highly correlated with field parameters, and were the most reliable screening parameters for the selection of superior rhizobial strains.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bello A B, Ceron-Dias W A, Nickell C D, El Sherif E O and Davis L C 1980 Influence of cultivar, between-row spacing, and plant population of fixation of soybeans. Crop Sci. 20, 751–755.
Bremer E, Rennie R J and Rennie D A 1988 Dinitrogen fixation of lentil, field pea and fababean under dryland conditions. Can J. Soil Sci. 68, 553–562.
Bremner J M and Mulvaney C S 1982 Nitrogen-total. In Methods of Soil Analysis. Eds. A L Page, R H Miller and D R Keeney. pp 595–624. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI.
Caldwell B W and Vest H G 1977 Genetic aspects of nodulation and dinitrogen fixation by legumes: The macro-symbiont. In A Treatise on Dinitrogen Fixation. Eds. R W F Hardy and W S Silver.Section III: Biology. J Wiley and Sons, New York.
Date R A and Roughley R J 1977 Preparation of legume seed inoculant. In A Treatise on Dinitrogen Fixation. Eds. R W F Hardy and W S Silver. Section III: Biology. J. Wiley and Sons, New York.
Dean J R, Toomsan B and Clark K W 1980 Rhizobium strain selection for fababeans. Can. J. Plant Sci. 60, 385–397.
DuTeau N M, Palmer R G and Atherly A G 1986 Fast-growing Rhizobium fredii are poor nitrogen-fixing symbionts of soybean. Crop Sci. 26, 884–889.
Gibson A H 1976 Recovery and compensation by nodulated legumes to environmental stress. In Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Plants. Eds. P S Nutman. pp 385–403. Cambridge University Press.
Graham P H 1981 Some problems of nodulation and symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Phaseolus vulgaris. L.: A review. Field Crops Res. 4, 93–112.
Hardy R W F, Holsten R D, Jackson E K and Burns R C 1968 The C2H2-C2H4 assay for nitrogen fixation: Laboratory and field evaluation. Plant Physiol. 43, 1185–1207.
Hohenberg J S, Munns D N and Tucker C L 1982 Rhizobiumhost specificities in Phaseolus coccineus L. and Phaseolus vulgaris L. Crop Sci. 22, 455–459.
Ikram A 1983 Rhizobium inoculation of Calopogonium caeruleum. Soil Biol. Biochem. 15, 537–541.
Israel D W 1981 Cultivar and Rhizobium strain effects on nitrogen fixation and remobilization by soybeans. Agron. J. 73, 509–516.
Kessel Cvan and Burris R H 1983 Effect of H2 evolution on 15N2 fixation, C2H2 reduction and relative efficiency of leguminous symbionts. Physiol. Plant. 59, 329–334.
Kremer R J and Peterson H L 1983 Field evaluation of selected Rhizobium strains in an improved inoculant. Agron. J. 75, 139–143.
Kucey R M N, Snitwongse P, Chaiwanakupt P, Wadisirisuk P, Siripaibool C, Arayangkool T, Boonkerd N and Rennie R J 1988 Nitrogen fixation (15N dilution) with soybeans under Thai field conditions. I. Developing protocols for screening Bradyrhizobium japonicum strains. Plant and Soil 108, 33–41.
Manhart J R and Wong P P 1980 Nitrate effect on nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction): Activities of legume root nodules induced by rhizobia with varied nitrate reductase activities. Plant Physiol. 65, 502–505.
Nelson L M and Child J J 1981 Nitrogen fixation and hydrogen metabolism by Rhizobium leguminosarum isolates in pea root nodules. Can. J. Microbiol. 27, 1028–1034.
Porter L K and O'Deen W A 1977 Apparatus for preparing nitrogen from ammonium chloride for nitrogen-15 determinations. Anal. Chem. 45, 514–516.
Rennie R J 1986 Comparison of methods of enriching a soil with nitrogen-15 to estimate dinitrogen fixation by isotope dilution. Agron. J. 78, 158–163.
Rennie R J and Dubetz S 1986 Nitrogen-15-determined nitrogen fixation in field grown chickpea, lentil, fababean, and field pea. Agron. J. 78, 654–660.
Rennie R J and Kemp G A 1983 N2-fixation in field beans quantified by 15N isotope dilution. II. Effect of cultivars of beans. Agron. J. 75, 645–649.
Ross P J and Martin A E 1970 A rapid procedure for preparing gas samples for 15N determinations. Analyst 95, 817–822.
Schubert K R and Evans H K 1976 Hydrogen evolution: A major factor affecting the efficiency of nitrogen fixation in nodulated symbionts. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, 1207–1211.
Simpson F B and Burris R H 1984 A nitrogen pressure of 50 atmospheres does not prevent evolution of hydrogen by nitrogenase. Science 224, 1095–1097.
Skøt L 1983 Cultivar and Rhizobium strain effect on the symbiotic performance of pea (Pisum sativum). Physiol. Plant. 59, 585–589.
Statistics Canada 1988 Grain Trade of Canada. Ottawa, Canada.
Weiser G C, Grafton K F and Berryhill D L 1985 Nodulation of dry beans by commercial and indigenous strains of Rhizobium phaseoli. Agron. J. 77, 856–859.
Wynne J C, Elkan G H, Meisner C M, Scheeweis T J and Ligon J M 1980 Greenhouse evaluations of strains of Rhizobium for peanuts. Agron. J. 72, 645–649.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bremer, E., Van Kessel, C., Nelson, L. et al. Selection of Rhizobium leguminosarum strains for lentil (Lens culinaris) under growth room and field conditions. Plant Soil 121, 47–56 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00013096
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00013096