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Symbiotic Relationship between Bradyrhizobium Strains and Peanut

Dep. of Crop Science

J. O. Rawlings

Dep. of Statistics

T. J. Schneeweis and G. H. Elkan

Dep. of Microbiology, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC 27695-7629

^* Corresponding author.

Significant host x strain interactions for the amount of N fixed were found in previous factorial experiments of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and Bradyrhizobium strains. The results suggested that specific host-strain combinations should be identified to maximize N fixation. The objectives of this study were to determine if methodology could be developed to reduce the testing required to identify specific host-strain combinations that maximize N fixation. Sixteen peanut cultivars representing four morphological groups inoculated with 29 Bradyrhizobium strains known to be effective on peanut were used to determine if grouping of host genotypes or strain genotypes could be used to limit testing to groups of genotypes instead of individual genotypes. The peanut cultivars grouped using numerical taxonomy of morphological characters reflected the differences in response to rhizobial strains; however, cultivars were not homogeneous within groups for symbiotic traits. Strain variability was the largest component of the phenotypic variability for all traits, and the host plant had larger variability than the cultivar x strain interaction for nodule number, nodule weight, and nodule size. The biplot of shoot weight ratio classified the strains and peanut cultivars into five and four groups, respectively. All cultivars received enough N to appear normal when they were inoculated with effective strains but were quite different in response to symbiotic N. These results suggest that the amount of plant testing required to identify specific strains for a host genotype can be reduced considerably by first classifying the symbionts into groups and eliminating some groups from further testing.

Received for publication December 22, 1987.