Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:23:00.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Inoculation of white clover with different strains of Rhizobium trifolii on a mineral hill soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

L. R. Mytton
Affiliation:
Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, Wales
D. M. Hughes
Affiliation:
Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, Wales

Summary

S.184 white clover was established on an unimproved brown earth hill pasture using both surface seeding techniques and conventional cultivation. Inoculation with selected Rhizobium trifolii improved clover dry-matter production by 0·017 t/ha on the cultivated trial in the establishment year and by 0·13 t/ha in the first harvest year. On the uncultivated site, clover dry-matter production was increased 1·88 t/ha by the best inoculation treatment in the first harvest year and 1·01 t/ha in the second harvest year. Rhizobium strains differed in their ability to promote clover growth. Clover yields were substantially better on the uncultivated than on the cultivated trial. The implications of the results for hill land pasture improvement are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anon. (1975). The inoculation of white clover seeds with effective strains of Rhizobium trifolii for sowing in hill soils. Report of the Agricultural Research Council 1973/74, p. 12. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, A. (1962). Turf grass species and soil fertility. Journal of the Sports Turf Institute 10, 372385.Google Scholar
Davies, D. A. (1975). Productivity from S.59 red fescue with and without S.184 white clover under hill conditions. 1. Animal performance. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 84, 265272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holding, A. J. & King, J. (1963). The effectiveness of indigenous populations of Rhizobium trifolii in relation to soil factors. Plant and Soil 18, 181198.Google Scholar
Jones, D. G. (1963). Symbiotic variation in Rhizobium trifolii with S.100 Nomark white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 14, 740743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. G. (1966). The contribution of white clover to a mixed upland sward. II. Factors affecting the density and effectiveness of Rhizobium trifolii. Plant and Soil 24, 250260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. G., Druce, R. G. & Williams, G. (1967). Comparative trials and seed pelleting, inoculation and the use of high lime dressings in upland reclamation. The Journal of Applied Bacteriology 30, 511517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. G., Munro, J. M. M., Hughes, R. & Davies, W. E. (1964). The contribution of white clover to a mixed upland sward. I. The effect of Rhizobium inoculation on the early development of white clover. Plant and Soil 21, 6369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. G. & Thomas, S. B. (1966). The use of inoculation and pelleting in the establishment of white clover under mountain conditions. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 29, 430437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLoughlin, T. & Dunican, L. K. (1981). An ecological study of marked Rhizobium trifolii strains on the host-plant Trifolium repens var. Huia in an acid peat and a neutral mineral soil. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 50, 6572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masterson, C. L. (1961). Clover nodule bacteria survey. Research Report Soil Division, An Foras Taluntais, pp. 7879.Google Scholar
Munro, J. M. M. & Davies, D. A. (1974). Potential pasture production in the uplands of Wales. 5. The nitrogen contribution of white clover. Journal of the British Grassland Society 29, 213223.Google Scholar
Munro, J. M. M., Davies, D. A. & Thomas, T. A. (1973). Potential pasture production in the uplands of Wales. 3. Soil nutrient resources and limitations. Journal of the British Grassland Society 28, 247255.Google Scholar
Munro, J. M. M. & Hughes, R. (1966). White clover and hill land improvement. Journal of the British Grassland Society 21, 224230.Google Scholar
Mytton, L. R. (1975). White clover inoculation and hill land improvement. ARC Research Review 1, 58.Google Scholar
Mytton, L. R. (1981). Breeding legumes for symbiotic characters. In Current Perspectives in Nitrogen Fixation. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Nitrogen Fixation, Canberra 1980 (ed. Gibson, A. H. and Newton, W. E.), p. 420.Google Scholar
Newbould, P. (1982). Biological nitrogen fixation in upland and marginal areas of the U.K. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London Series B 296, 405417.Google Scholar
Newbould, P. & Haystead, A. (1978). Trifolium repens (white clover), its role, establishment and maintenance in hill pastures. Hill Farming Research Organization. 7th Report 1974–1977, p. 55.Google Scholar
Newbould, P., Holding, A. J., Davies, G. J., Rangeley, A., Copeman, G. J. F., Davies, A., Frame, J., Haystead, A., Herriott, J. B. D., Holmes, J. C., Lowe, J. F., Parker, J. W. G., Waterson, H. A., Wilding, J., Wray, J. P. & Younie, D. (1982). The effect of Rhizobium inoculation on white clover in improved hill soils in the United Kingdom. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 99, 591610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulter, A. A. (1933). Deficiency of the clover nodule organism on some Welsh soils. Welsh Journal of Agriculture 9, 145159.Google Scholar
Rudeforth, C. C. (1970). Soils of North Cardiganshire. Harpenden: Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Rhodes, I. (1981). The physiological basis of variation in the yield of grass/clover mixtures. In Plant Physiology and Herbage Production. British Grassland Society Occasional Symposium No. 13 (ed. Wright, C. E.), pp. 141169.Google Scholar
Sherwood, M. T. & Masterson, C. L. (1974). Importance of using the correct test host assessing the effectiveness of indigenous populations of Rhizobium trifolii. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research 13, 101108.Google Scholar
Thornton, H. G. (1952). The symbiosis between Rhizobium and leguminous plants and the influence on this of the bacterial strain. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 139, 171176.Google ScholarPubMed
Vincent, J. M. (1970). A Manual for the Practical Study of Root-Nodule Bacteria (International Biological Program), Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Young, N. R. & Mytton, L. R. (1983). The response of white clover to different strains of Rhizobium trifolii in hill land reseeding. Grass and Forage Science 88, 1319.Google Scholar