Populations of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovars phaseoli and viceae in fields after bean or pea in rotation with nonlegumes

Abstract

Populations of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. phaesoli and bv. viceae in southern Alberta soils were measured over a period of 4 years using a most probable number method. Five fields cropped to bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), five fields cropped to pea (Pisum sativum L.), and two fields cropped to wheat were used as test sites. Legume crops had received appropriate legume inoculants. Fields were sampled in the fall of the crop year and in the spring of the following 3 years during which fields were cropped to nonlegumes or left fallow. Numbers of R. leguminosarum bv. phaseoli were 100 to 1000 times higher in fields that had been planted to bean than in fields that had been planted to pea or wheat. Fields that had been planted to pea maintained populations of R. leguminosarum bv. viceae 10 to 100 times higher than fields that had been planted to bean or wheat. Wheat fields, which had never had legumes grown in them, contained between 1 and 100 rhizobia per gram of soil of both biovars of R. leguminosarum, indicating that both biovars are native to southern Alberta soils. The numbers of rhizobia did not decrease in proportion to the population of other bacteria in the soil over the duration of the experiment. Plasmid profiles of soil Rhizobium isolates obtained in the last year of the experiment showed that none of the isolates had plasmid profiles similar to those of strains added as inoculants in the 1st year of the experiment. These results show that fields cropped to legumes and receiving rhizobial inoculants in this study maintained high populations of rhizobia for several years after harvest of the legume crop.Key words: Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. phaseoli, Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viceae, nodule, plasmid profiles, inoculum potential, rhizobium competition.