Côte d'Ivoire produces 40 % of the world supply of cocoa but much of the plantation area is aging and declining in productivity, while opportunities for land expansion into new forest land are quickly disappearing. Rejuvenation strategies for cocoa presently coalesce either around improved varieties and greater use of agro-chemical inputs in full sun systems or eco-certification that requires trees to be integrated with cocoa. Here, we explore the possibility of uniting

The growth response of Acacia mangium Willd. to inoculation with selected Bradyrhizobium strains was investigated in two field trials in the Ivory Coast (West Africa). In the first trial (Anguededou), four provenances (i.e., trees originating from seeds harvested in different geographical areas) of A. mangium were inoculated with four Bradyrhizobium strains from different origins. Six months after being transplanted in the field, the heights of all inoculated trees showed a statistically significant increase of 9 to 26% compared with those of uninoculated trees, with the most effective strain being Aust 13c. After 19 months, the positive effect of inoculation on tree growth was confirmed. The effect of A. mangium provenance on tree growth was also highly significant. Trees from the Oriomo provenance of Papua New Guinea had a mean height that was 25% greater than those of other provenances. Analysis of variance showed a highly significant effect of interaction between strain and host provenance factors. Thus, most effective strain × provenance combinations could be proposed. Immunological identification of strains clearly showed that 90 to 100% of nodules from trees inoculated with three of the four Bradyrhizobium strains or from uninoculated trees contained exclusively Aust 13c 23 months after tree transplantation. This predominance of Aust 13c in nodules was still observed 42 months after tree transplantation. The second experiment (Port-Bouët), performed with a different soil, confirmed the long-term positive effect of Aust 13c on plant growth, its high competitive ability against indigenous strains, and its persistence in soil. Strain Aust 13c should thus be of great interest for inoculating A. mangium under a wide range of field conditions.

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