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Compensation against Ineffective Nodulation in Soybean¹

Two cultivars of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] were inoculated with nine ratios of ineffective (SM-5) and effective (CC709) strains Rhizobium japonicum. Plants were grown in the greenhouse and harvested after 33 days. Nitrogenase activity, total shoot N, nodule number, nodule mass, and the proportions of nodules formed by each strain were determined. Nodules were identified serologically by the fluorescent antibody technique. Significant increases in total N in the shoot occurred as both the proportion and number of nodules formed by effective strain CC709 increased. Shoot N was highly correlated with nitrogenase activity and nodule mass. The relationship between percent effective nodules and shoot N was nonlinear so that 95% of maximum N accumulation was obtained when only 75% of the nodules (on a nodule number basis) were effective. The average size an effective nodule was at least 2.5 times larger than an ineffective nodule and their average weight increased from 2.38 to 4.88 mg/ nodule as the proportion of effective nodules declined from 100 to 18.8%. The proportion of total nodule tissue that was effective was greater than the corresponding percent effective nodules. This compensatory mechanism tended to keep the amount of effective nodule tissue constant up to a point even though the proportion of effective nodules declined. There was a deleterious effect on N₂ fixation only when infection by the ineffective strain was great enough to reduce total nodule mass.

Key Words: Glycine max • Nitrogenase activity • Effective strain • Ineffective strain • Nodule mass

² Former graduate research assistant and agronomist, respectively, NifTAL Project. Current address of senior author: Dep. of Agronomy and Soil Science, Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822.

Received for publication March 1, 1982.

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