Effects of soil nitrogen status and rate of inoculation on the establishment of populations of Bradyrhizobium japonicum and on the nodulation of soybeans

Abstract

Soybeans (Glycine max [L.] Merrill cv. Forrest) were grown under irrigation on a well-structured grey clay soil, previously free of Bradyrhizobium japonicum and containing relatively high levels of mineral N, at Trangie, N.S.W. There were two soil pretreatments, pre-cropped (which had the effect of reducing the level of mineral nitrogen in the soil) and pre-fallowed, and four rates of inoculation (B. japonicum CB 1809 - nil, 0.01 X, 1.OX [=normal] and 100X).Mineral nitrogen (0-10 cm) initially was higher in pre-fallowed soil than in pre-cropped soil (37.6 v. 18.5 mg N per kg). Depletion of mineral nitrogen occurred more rapidly in pre-fallowed treatments, so that, 7 days after harvest, mineral-N in pre-cropped soil was significantly higher than in pre-fallowed soil (14.4 v. 10.6 mg per kg).With high levels of soil mineral nitrogen, colonization of seedling rhizospheres by rhizobia and plant nodulation were diminished. These effects were ameliorated but not eliminated by increased rates of inoculation. The development of the symbiosis was also impeded by lower rates of inoculation (0.01 X, 1.OX).