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An Assessment of Different Techniques for Inoculating Phaseolus vulgaris with Rhizobium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

S. Rawsthorne  and
R. J. Summerfield
S. Rawsthorne
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Plant Environment Laboratory, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AD, England
R. J. Summerfield
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Plant Environment Laboratory, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AD, England
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Summary

A technique to better ensure reliable nodulation of pot-grown, P. vulgaris plants with cultured strains of Rhizobium is described. Nodulation, dinitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction) activity and growth of 28-day-old plants were all stimulated markedly when seeds had been inoculated with cultured Rhizobium phaseoli suspended in alginate gel (Agrigel) rather than in sucrose solution. Nodulation attributes of plants inoculated with R. phaseoli strain RCR 3644 which had been sub-cultured repeatedly on yeast mannitol agar slopes were consistently inferior to those recorded for the same strain but recently cultured from a freeze-dried sample. Some of the potential problems with open pot culture of nodule-dependent legumes are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 119 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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