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A Survey of Rhizobia in Farm Soils at Wye College, Kent
Author(s) -
Escuder Ana M. Q.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1972.tb03679.x
Subject(s) - rhizobia , serial dilution , biology , horticulture , rhizobium leguminosarum , agar , strain (injury) , rhizobium , calcareous , agronomy , nitrogen fixation , botany , rhizobiaceae , symbiosis , bacteria , inoculation , genetics , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , anatomy
S ummary : Numbers of Rhizobium meliloti, R. trifolii, R. leguminosarum and R. lupini in different fields near Wye, Kent, were determined by the ‘plant dilution’method. R. trifolii was most abundant, followed by R. leguminosarum , with R. meliloti and R. lupini less abundant and more restricted in their distribution. Isolates were made from nodules taken from the highest dilutions of soil that produced nodules and were tested for effectiveness in fixing nitrogen in agar tube culture. In general, isolates were effective or fairly effective. Highly effective isolates of R. trifolii were found in a very calcareous soil which had grown barley for 9 years. A permanent pasture which received higher doses of N fertilizer than other fields, contained strains of R. trifolii with a wider range of effectiveness, some giving only 50% of the dry matter production of the standard strain. The survival of R. meliloti 2001 in fields in which lucerne had not been grown for 9—14 years was studied, using a serological technique. No isolate was identified with certainty as strain 2001, but 55 of the 110 isolates tested showed some common features with this strain.