Establishment and effectiveness of added pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) rhizobia in different soils of narrow abiotic variability

Abstract

Pot and laboratory experiments were conducted to study the establishment and effectiveness of a streptomycin-sulphate-resistant (1 mg/ml of medium) pigeonpea rhizobia strain (RM7) in sterile sand and non-sterile soils. Strain RM7 increased the drymatter yield of pigeonpea plants (Cajanus cajan) by 106% over control plants under sterile conditions. However, when the rhizobia strain was introduced into 14 different non-sterile soils with a narrow abiotic variability, the comparable beneficial effect was observed only in one soil inoculated with log 6.70 cells/pot. At this inoculum rate, the percentage increase in yield over control plants varied from −1 to 140 in different soils. Rhizobium (RM7), applied at log 3.70 cells/pot (3 kg soil), showed less than 5% establishment in four soils. However, establishment varied from 8% to 72% at a higher level of inoculation (log 6.70 cells/pot). Displacement of native rhizobia and creation of new sites for nodulation by the introduced rhizobia were also affected by soil properties. The increase in shoot dry-matter yield compared with control plants was positively correlated with the percent establishment of RM7 (r = 0.60*) in these soils. Experiments showed that some biotic stresses led to poor survival, proliferation and establishment of the added alien in the soil. Therefore, any culture that is efficient in one soil may not produce similar results under all situations.