Genetic Variation in Alfalfa, Sweet Clover and Fenugreek for the Activity of Symbiosis with Rhizobium meliloti

Abstract

The aim of this work was to examine variation for activity of symbiosis with Rhizobium meliloti in alfalfa, sweet clover and fenugreek. Seed specimens were obtained from the collection of the All-Union Research Institute for Plant Breeding and Rhizobium strains from the All-Union Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, both in Leningrad. Sterile methods of vegetative culture were employed. Statistical analysis of data on inter- and intracultivar variation allow one to suppose that in alfalfa and sweet clover, nitrogenase activity and symbiotic efficiency (ability of plants to increase biomass after inoculation) are controlled by different groups of genes. The latter symbiotic property is more strictly controlled by host genotype than the former. Fenugreek appeared to be more variable in its capacity for symbiosis than alfalfa and sweet clover. Differences between genotyyes in symbiotic activity correlate with division into subspecies and are inherited in self-fertile progeny of fenugreek plants. Differences between R. meliloti strains for the efficiency of symbiosis with heterogceic natural fenugreek population are expressed to a lesser degree than with plants of more homogenic cultivar populations.