Effects of Phosphorus and Bradyrhizobium japonicum on Growth and Chlorophyll Content of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp)

Abstract

The field and screen house experiment was conducted at Tanzania Coffee Research Institute and Seliani Agricultural Research Institute respectively in Tanzania, between March-July 2013, to assess the effects of Bradyrhizobium japonicum and phosphorus on growth and total leaf chlorophyll content of cowpea. The experiment was out down in splitplot design whereby the main plots comprised two inoculation treatments (with and without B. japonicum), while the sub-plots contained phosphorus (TSP) application at four different levels (0 kg/ha, 20 kg/ha, 40 kg/ha, 80 kg/ha). Both experiments were replicated four times. We measured plant growth parameters such as plant height; number of leaves per plant at different stages of plant growth, the stem girth was measured by vernier caliper at physiological maturity. The chlorophyll content was determined at 3, 5, and 7 weeks after planting (WAP). The chlorophyll was extracted by using dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) and absorbance was determined at 645 and 663nm using UV/Visible spectrophotometer. B. japonicum inoculation significantly increased the plant height, number of leaves per plants, and stem girth above the control. The height was increased by 11.23, 10.43 and 8.99% (screen-house) and by 8.11, 24.05, 9.29% (field) in the measurements taken at 4, 6, and 8 WAP respectively. Number of leaves per plant counted at 6 and 8 WAP increased by 14 and 10.8% (screen-house) and 14 and 11.6% (field) respectively. B. japonicum also

Influence of Bradyrhizobia inoculation on growth, nodulation and yield performance of cowpea varieties

“…Inoculated plants formed bigger nodules than uninoculated plants due to the effectiveness of the introduced rhizobia strain to initiate nodulation with cowpea roots which agrees with the report of Chiamaka (2014). A similar promoting effect of seed inoculation on dry weight of nodules per plant has also been reported by Bejandi et al (2011) and Nyoki and Ndakidemi (2014).…”

RESPONSE OF COWPEA (Vigna unguiculata L.Walp) VARIETIES TO PHOSPHORUS LEVELS IN SUDAN SAVANNA OF NIGERIA

“…This result agrees with the findings of [15] whom reported that Phosphorus fertilizer significantly enhanced growth and yield characters of the cowpea varieties used; plant height, leaf area, number of leaves and number of branches in all the weeks of measurement were significantly improved. This result is in conformity to the results observed earlier [16].…”

Effect of Different Rhizobial Strains on Growth and Yield of Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]

“…Gupta et al, (2005), they mentioned that plant height can also be increased significantly by inoculation of effective soybean rhizobial strains. These findings are confirming the observations of earlier workers Khan et al, (2014), Nyoki and Ndakidemi (2014). Seeds inoculated by different Rhizobium strains showed significantly higher nodulation, fresh root weight and root dry weight over control.…”