Journal
SOIL SCIENCE AND PLANT NUTRITION
Volume 58, Issue 6, Pages 750-763Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/00380768.2012.741041
Keywords
Biological nitrogen fixation; commercial inoculants; competition for nodulation; cowpea; green gram; indigenous rhizobia
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Funding
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT (TSBF-CIAT)
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Limited information is available on reduced cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) and green gram (Vigna radiata L.Wilczek.) yields in Kenya. Declining soil fertility and absence or presence of ineffective indigenous rhizobia in soils are assumptions that have been formulated but still require to be demonstrated. In this study, soils were collected from legume growing areas of Western (Bungoma), Nyanza (Bondo), Eastern (Isiolo), Central (Meru) and Coast (Kilifi) provinces in Kenya to assess indigenous rhizobia in soils nodulating cowpea and green gram under greenhouse conditions. Our results showed that highest nodule fresh weights of 4.63 and 3.32?g plant-1 for cowpea and green gram were observed in one soil from Isiolo and another from Kilifi, respectively, suggesting the presence of significant infective indigenous strains in both soils. On the other hand, the lowest nodule fresh weights of 2.17 and 0.72?g plant-1 were observed in one soil from Bungoma for cowpea and green gram, respectively. Symbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation by cowpea and green gram was highest in Kilifi soil with values of 98% and 97%, respectively. A second greenhouse experiment was undertaken to evaluate the performance of commercial rhizobial inoculants with both legumes in Chonyi soil (also from Coast province) containing significant indigenous rhizobia [>13.5?x?103 Colony Forming Units (CFU) g-1]. Rhizobial inoculation did not significantly (P?
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