Abstract
Aiming to identify cultivars with higher biological nitrogen (N2) fixation capacity, 152 soybean genotypes, belonging to maturity groups VI or higher and recommended for different regions of Brazil were evaluated for nodulation parameters and N2 fixation rates. The experiments were performed under greenhouse conditions after inoculation with each one of three Bradyrhizobium elkanii strains (29w, SEMIA 566 and SEMIA 587) established in most Brazilian soils cultivated with this legume. None of the cultivars tested drastically restricted the nodulation, although differences of up to four fold in nodule number and ten fold in N accumulated in shoots were found. Significant effects of cultivars, strains and interaction among cultivars and strains were verified for all parameters evaluated: nodule number, dry weight and distribution in the root system, shoot and root dry weight and total N accumulated by plants. Nodule dry weight was the nodulation parameter which gave the best correlation with total N accumulated by plants. Information about the cultivars with high N2 fixation rates with naturalized bradyrhizobia strains can be useful for recommendation to farmers and also for the use in breeding programs. In experiments with mixed inoculum, preference of cultivars for some strains was also observed. This preference can also be used to explore the benefits with a specific strain.
Published Version
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