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Soybean Rhizobia in Indian Soils: Populations, Host Specificity and Competitiveness

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Abstract

Soybean is the most important of crop legumes with the highest share of production and source of biologically fixed nitrogen. Indigenous soybean rhizobia in Vertisols of Central India and other soils were assessed for cross nodulation, bacteriocin production and competitiveness. Survey of rhizobial populations in the rhizosphere of post-summer rainy season soybean revealed low number; the most probable number by plant infection test ranged from 0.5 to 3.3 × 103 cells g−1 soil but improved in the rhizosphere of cool season chickpea as 3.6–9.6 × 103 cells g−1. Soybean was nodulated by its native slow and fast growing rhizobia as well as by chickpea rhizobia. However soybean rhizobia did not nodulate crops belonging to four other cross inoculation groups-alfalfa (Trigonella), clover, pea, chickpea but nodulated Vigna (cowpea). Nodule occupancy by three indigenous nod+ nif+ Bradyrhizobium sp. R33 and R35 and Rhizobium R51 varied from 52 to 68 % of which only one-R33 was a strong bacteriocin producer while the other two were not. The results are important for rhizobial strain selection for biofertilizers.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for funding this investigation under the network project on ‘Application of Microorganisms in Agriculture and Allied sectors’ (AMAAS) of the National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM), Mau, U.P. India. They are grateful to Director, IISS, Bhopal for providing the facilities for this investigation.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest with the funding organization, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM), Mau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. All India Network Project on Soil Biodiversity-Biofertilizers, Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, 462038, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Parveen G. Ansari & D. L. N. Rao

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  1. Parveen G. Ansari
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  2. D. L. N. Rao
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Correspondence to D. L. N. Rao.

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Ansari, P.G., Rao, D.L.N. Soybean Rhizobia in Indian Soils: Populations, Host Specificity and Competitiveness. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. 84, 457–464 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-013-0248-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-013-0248-9

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