A Note on Rhizobium Inoculation of Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) using the Fluid Drill Technique

Abstract

The conventional method of inoculating Phaseolus vulgaris with Rhizobium phaseoli, using a peat carrier and dry seeds, was compared with a method using a slurry inoculation of germinating seeds, which were subsequently sown with a fluid drill. The mean number of nodules per plant 28 days after sowing was 0-64 (uninoculated control), 2-14 (dry seed), and 7-0 (fluid drill), differences between treatments being significant at P=o-oi. Two varieties included in the experiment gave similar responses, and it is concluded that the fluid drill technique has a useful potential as a method of ensuring good inoculation of legume seedlings.

Effects of Seed Carriers on Seedling Establishment after Fluid Drilling

“…Fluid carriers have already been used to inoculate pre-germinated Phaseolus vulgaris L. seeds with beneficial Rhizobium phaseoli bacteria by Hardaker and Hardwick (1978), but further work is required to assess the compatability of carriers with similar biological systems, pesticides and plant nutrients. The incorporation of such materials would be a step towards the provision of a complete 'packaged environment' to improve seedling establishment.…”

N2 FIXATION AND COMPETITIVENESS OF Rhizobium phaseoli STRAINS ISOLATED FROM ONTARIO SOILS

“…Cinq Dry bean (Phaseolus vulg,aris L.) is usually considered to be a poor fixer of atmospheric nitrogen (N.) (Graham 1981;LaRue and Patterson l98l). Hardaker and Hardwick (1978) proposed that poor nodulation and N, fixation by P. vuLgaris was related to infection by ineffective, indigenous strains of Rhizobium phaseoli. Phaseolus vulgaris was one of the earliest and most widely grown domesticated crops in the Americas (Kaplan 1965) and populations of R. phaseoli are widespread.…”

An Assessment of Different Techniques for Inoculating Phaseolus vulgaris with Rhizobium

“…Liquid inocula can be as effective as solid carriers (such as peat, charcoal or vermiculite) in stimulating nodulation of Phaseolus vulgaris in the field, providing that strains of Rhizobium are applied at larger (5.6 x 10 6 cells cm row" 1 ) rather than smaller (2.5 x 10 4 cells cm row" 1 ) densities (Sparrow and Ham, 1983). Although peat-based inocula have often proved superior to other solid or liquid carriers (by prolonging the viability of Rhizobium on seeds and increasing nodulation in the field; Burton, 1976;Burton and Curley, 1965), nodulation of field-grown P. vulgaris plants has also been successful and effective when seeds were sown in an alginate gel (Agrigel) suspension containing R. phaseoli strain RCR 3644 using a fluid drill technique for planting the crop (Hardaker and Hardwick, 1978).When grain legumes are grown in pots in artificial climates, as an adjunct to research in the field, it is imperative that plants closely resemble morphologically and phenologically those grown in the natural environment. Notwithstanding the plant husbandry and culture techniques which are now wellestablished for pot-grown legumes (Summerfield et al, 1977), the procedures used and the results obtained from many experiments suggest that the variable under investigation is not always the primary one which has influenced plant response (Summerfield, 1980).…”