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Published online 1 May 1983
Published in Agron J 75:557-560 (1983)
© 1983 American Society of Agronomy
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Response of the Clover-Rhizobium Symbiosis to Soil Acidity and Rhizobium Strain1

Frank C. Thornton and C. B. Davey2

Thirty-three strains of Rhizobium trifolii were tested for the effects of soil acidity on nodulation, nitrogen fixation, and dry matter production with ‘Mt. Barker’ clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.). Clover plants were grown in a Norfolk loamy sand (Typic Paleudult, fine loamy, silicious thermic) adjusted to 7, 34, and 57% Al saturation at acidity levels of pH 5.9, 5.1, and 4.4, respectively. Results from this experiment confirm that R. trifolii exhibits a large and varied tolerance to soil acidity in symbiotic association with the host. Laboratory prescreening of R. trifolii in liquid medium, based on the ability of rhizobia to grow in acid media (pH 4.2) containing Al (15 µM), identified 54% of the strains that proved symbiotically acid sensitive. Over 70% of the strains prescreened as acid tolerant ranked in the top half of all strains in total N accumulation in the most acid soil treatment. In some cases acid-resistant effective strains of R. trifolii formed symbiotic associations that produced between 90 to 99% of the yield of the N-amended controls.

Key Words: Acid tolerance • Nitrogen fixation • Rhizobium trifolii

1 Contribution of the Dep. of Forestry, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, N.C. 27650. Journal Paper No. 8216 of the journal series, North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, Raleigh, N.C.

2 Formerly graduate research assistant, Dep. of Forestry, North Carolina State Univ., currently post-doctoral fellow, Dep. of Biological Sciences, Univ. of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand; professor, Dep. of Forestry and Science, North State Univ., Raleigh, N.C.

Received for publication April 19, 1982.




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The SCI Journals Crop Science Vadose Zone Journal
Journal of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences Education		 Soil Science Society of America Journal
Journal of Plant Registrations Journal of
Environmental Quality		 The Plant Genome
Copyright © 1983 by the American Society of Agronomy.