Abstract
Two hypotheses that antibiotic-resistant nodule isolates from uninoculated soybeans grown in a strongly acidic soil were naturally occurring rhizobia which had acquired resistance to spectinomycin and streptomycin or were contaminants from adjacent, inoculated treatments, were tested in laboratory experiments. Soybean nodule isolates (166) as well as 48 cowpea and 89 Rhizobium japonicum strains were used in tests of resistance to six concentrations (0–500 μg ml −1) of kanamycin, spectinomycin and streptomycin, tolerance of stresses of pH 4.6, with or without 50 μ m Al, and serological cross-reactivity. More strains from the strongly acidic soil were resistant to the antibiotics than from slightly acidic soils, but resistance to antibiotics did not necessarily entail resistance to pH 4.6 or to 50 μ m Al. Twenty-three nodule isolates which were resistant to spectinomycin or streptomycin cross-reacted with antisera of the inoculum strains, indicating that they were contaminants. None of 59 antibiotic-sensitive nodule isolates from uninoculated plants and none of 31 from inoculated plants cross-reacted with the antisera. All 53 antibiotic-resistant isolates from nodules of plants in inoculated plots cross-reacted with test antisera, indicating stability of the antibiotic markers. Cowpea rhizobia were generally more resistant to the antibiotics and more tolerant of pH 4.6 and 50 μ m Al than were R. japonicum. Among strains of R. japonicum, slow growers were more resistant to antibiotics than moderately fast growers.
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