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The Influence of Irrigation and Rhizobium japonicum Strains on Yields of Soybeans Grown in a Lakeland Sand¹

Under existing management technology, Lakeland sands(Typic Quartzipsamments) produce low yields of soybeans[Glycine max (L.)Merr.] in North Carolina. Thesesoils have an available water holding capacity of only4.0% on a weight basis and as a result require about2.5 cm of water every 5 to 6 days during the growingseason to produce acceptable crop yields. In addition,Lakeland sands usually have extremely low or a totallynonexistent indigenous population of Rhizobium japonicum.Information on irrigation and nodulation effectsis needed to make these soils more productive.

The objectives of this study were to investigate theinfluence of irrigation and inoculation with different R.japonicum strains on yields of soybeans grown in aLakeland sand. The study was conducted at the SandhillsResearch Station at Jackson Springs, North Carolina.Additional nonirrigated plots inoculated with strains31, 110, and 122 were initiated on finer textured NorthCarolina soils for comparative purposes to the Lakelandsand.

Soil moisture treatments included plots not irrigatedand plots irrigated each week with 2.5 cm of water. Thefive inoculation treatments consisted of a set of noninoculatedplots and plots inoculated with strains of R.japonicum representing serogroups 31, 76, 110, and 122at the rate of 50 x 10₄ cells per cm of soybean row.Numbers of soil rhizobia were monitored throughout thestudy using a plant infection and MPN technique.

Irrigated soybean seed yields were significantly greaterwhen inoculated with rhizobia of either serogroup 110or 122 than yields from noninoculated but irrigatedplots. Inoculation without irrigation did not increasesoybean yields. It was also observed that inoculated, irrigatedsoybeans had greater nodule mass and numbers ofnodules than the nonirrigated and/or noninoculatedplots. All four serogroups used in the study adequatelynodulated soybean roots under irrigation and producedfewer nodules on soybean roots in the nonirrigated plots.On the basis of seed yield, strain ranking from best toworst was: 122>110>31>76. The noninoculated controlsyielded higher than serogroup 76 but less than those soybeansin plots inoculated with serogroup isolate 31.

Key Words: Water stress • Seed size • Plant dry weight • Rhizobial ecology • Soybean inoculation

² Formerly research assistant, now assistant professor, Dep. of Plant and Soil Sciences, Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83843, and professor of Soil Science, Soil Science Dep., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC 27650.

Received for publication August 11, 1980.