The legume inoculant industry and inoculant quality control in Australia: 1953–2003
G. K. Bullard A D , R. J. Roughley B and D. J. Pulsford CA Bio-Care Technology Pty Ltd, PO Box 367, Woy Woy, NSW 2257, Australia.
B Bradleys Road, Terrigal, NSW 2260, Australia.
C Douglas Road, Kurrajong Heights, NSW 2758, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: garybullard77@yahoo.com.au
Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 45(3) 127-140 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA03159
Submitted: 7 August 2003 Accepted: 20 January 2004 Published: 14 April 2005
Abstract
Fifty years have passed since the first commercial inoculants were manufactured in Australia. Before 1953, various Government Agencies supplied mostly agar cultures with New South Wales Department of Agriculture issuing the first peat-based inoculants. There are no data to indicate the quality of these inoculants, but in the early commercial cultures rhizobia were often outnumbered by contaminants and field failures were widespread. A comprehensive system of quality control was developed from discussions between CSIRO and the University of Sydney. Succeeding quality control bodies have continued on the basis of the original scheme. It set inoculant standards, approved and supplied mother cultures to manufacturers annually, tested all batches of peat inoculants before sale and sampled inoculants at the point of sale. In this paper we describe the history of Australian legume inoculants, list the commercial firms and key people involved and the period during which they were active. We tabulate the strains involved, indicate the period of their use and highlight some of the problems encountered with them and with inoculant production. We indicate the personnel who have been particularly active in the quality control of inoculants, the funding bodies who have supported the work and stress the reliance of the control laboratories on the help of many agricultural scientists in Australia. An important part of the control scheme has been the implementing of standards without resort to legislation. This has depended on the cooperation of the manufacturers involved and has allowed flexibility in applying the standards.
Additional keywords: AIRCS, ALIRU, legume inoculant quality, rhizobia, U-DALS.
Acknowledgments
We recognise the contributions made by John Brockwell, Dick Date, Kevin Marshall and John Howieson and ALIRU personnel, including David Herridge, Greg Gemell and Elizabeth Hartley. We also thank Andres Monroy, Nea Pernecker and Luisita Saunders at Bio-Care for assisting us in compiling this historical review of the Australian inoculant industry. Their assistance, advice and access to files and records was much appreciated.
Date RA
(1969) A decade of legume inoculant quality control in Australia. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 35, 27–37.
Guthrie FB
(1896) Inoculation of the soil for leguminous crops. Agricultural Gazette NSW 7, 690–694.
Herridge DF,
Roughley RJ, Brockwell J
(1987) Low survival of Rhizobium japonicum inoculant leads to reduced nodulation, nitrogen fixation and yield of soybean in the current crop but not in the subsequent crop. Australian Journal of Agricultural Science 38, 75–82.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Holford ICR
(1981) Changes in nitrogen and organic carbon of wheat-growing soils after various periods of grazed lucerne, extended fallowing and continuous wheat. Australian Journal of Soil Research 19, 239–249.
| Crossref |
Ireland JA, Vincent JM
(1968) A quantitative study of competition for nodule formation. Transactions of the 9th International Congress of Soil Science 2, 85–93.
Jenkinson DS
(1990) An introduction to the global nitrogen cycle. Soil Use Management 6, 56–61.
Marks G
(1905) Experiments with nodule culture. Agricultural Gazette NSW 17, 136–141.
Parker FE, Vincent JM
(1981) Sterilization of peat by gamma radiation. Plant and Soil 61, 285–293.
Peoples MB, Herridge DF
(1990) How much nitrogen is fixed by legumes? Agricultural Science 3, 24–29.
Peoples MB,
Bowman AM,
Gault RR,
Herridge DF,
McCallum MH,
McCormick KM,
Norton RM,
Rochester IJ,
Scammell GJ, Schwenke GD
(2001) Factors regulating the contributions of fixed nitrogen by pasture and crop legumes to different farming systems of eastern Australia. Plant and Soil 228, 29–41.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Roughley RJ
(1962) Rhizobium research and service in the NSW Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Gazette NSW 73, 260–262.
Roughley RJ,
Gemell LG,
Thompson JA, Brockwell J
(1993) The number of Bradyrhizobium sp. (Lupinus) applied to seed and its effect on rhizosphere colonization, nodulation and yield of lupin. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 25, 1453–1458.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Roughley RJ, Vincent JM
(1967) Growth and survival of Rhizobium spp. in peat culture. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 30, 362–376.
Steinborn J, Roughley RJ
(1974) Sodium chloride as a cause of low numbers of Rhizobium in legume inoculants. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 37, 93–99.
| PubMed |
Waters LM
(1954) Tests of commercial peat inoculants. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 20, 249–251.
Yardin MR,
Kennedy IR, Thies JE
(2000) Development of high quality carrier materials for field delivery of key microorganisms used as bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides. Radiation Physics and Chemistry 57, 565–568.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
