Legumes of the Thar desert and their nitrogen fixing Ensifer symbionts

Abstract

Background Nodulated legumes form a large component of the flora of desert regions, but comparatively few studies have characterised their symbiotic interactions, or their rhizobial microsymbionts. The Thar desert is a sub-tropical desert with infertile, alkaline soils in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, which is home to a large number of legumes that provide food and fuel, or are of medicinal importance to the local people. In the latest in a series of studies on the nodulated legumes of the Thar desert and their associated rhizobia, Sankhla et al. (2016), this issue, have characterised strains of Ensifer rhizobia isolated from nodules of the native mimosoid legume shrub Vachellia (Acacia) jacquemontii.