Inoculating Legumes: a Practical Guide
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INOCULATING LEGUMES: A PRACTICAL GUIDE REPRINTED MARCH 2019 Elizabeth Drew, David Herridge, Ross Ballard, Graham O’Hara, Rosalind Deaker, Matthew Denton, Ron Yates, Greg Gemell, Elizabeth Hartley, Lori Phillips, Nikki Seymour, John Howieson and Neil Ballard Title: Inoculating Legumes: A Practical Guide GRDC Project Code: UMU00032 Authors: Graham O’Hara, John Howieson (Murdoch University) Elizabeth Drew, Ross Ballard (South Australian Research and Development Institute), David Herridge (University of New England), Greg Gemmell, Elizabeth Hartley (NSW Department of Primary Industries), Lori Phillips (Victorian Department of Primary Industries), Rosalind Deaker (University of Sydney), Matt Denton (University of Adelaide), Ron Yates (Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia), Nikki Seymour (Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) and Neil Ballard (Global Pasture Consultants). In submitting this report, the researchers have agreed to the GRDC publishing this material in its edited form. ISBN 978-1-921779-45-9 Published December 2012 Revised June 2014 and reprinted March 2019 © Grains Research and Development Corporation All Rights Reserved 2 GRDC Contract details: Ms Maureen Cribb Publishing Manager GRDC PO Box 5367 KINGSTON ACT 2604 PH: 02 6166 4500 INOCULATING LEGUMES: A PRACTICAL GUIDE INOCULATING Email: [email protected] Web: www.grdc.com.au Copies of this report are available from Ground Cover Direct Free phone: 1800 11 00 44, Email: [email protected] Disclaimer: www.grdc.com.au/bookshop This publication has been prepared in good faith by the contributors on the basis of information available at the date of publication without any independent verification. 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Other products may perform as well or better than those specifically referred to. 3 INOCULATING LEGUMES: A PRACTICAL GUIDE INOCULATING … Each year Australian growers sow inoculated legume seed on about 2.5 million hectares, equivalent to 50 per cent of the area sown to legumes. All of the nitrogen fixed annually by legumes growing on these newly sown areas together with that fixed by the 22.5 million hectares of established and regenerating legume-based pastures can be attributed to either current or past inoculation. The total amount of nitrogen fixed by the agricultural legumes is estimated at 2.7 million tonnes annually, with a nominal value for the industry of close to $4 billion annually… CONTENTS Foreword .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6 Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7 Authors ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................8 FAQs.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11 1.1 The practice of inoculation ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.2 Inoculants and inoculation of legumes in Australia ................................................................................................................................................. 11 1.3 This handbook ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 2. Rhizobia and the rhizobia-legume symbiosis .....................................................................................................................................................13 2.1 What are rhizobia? ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 2.2 Specificity of rhizobia ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3 What do rhizobia need to prosper? .................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 2.4 The process of nodulation .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 2.5 Root-hair infection ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 15 2.6 Nodule types ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.7 Other important symbioses that fix nitrogen ................................................................................................................................................................ 16 2.8 Causes of poor nitrogen fixation – legume and rhizobia incompatibility................................................................................................ 16 3. Number and nitrogen fixation capacity of rhizobia in soils ...............................................................................................................17 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 3.2 How do we know if a soil has the right rhizobia? .................................................................................................................................................... 17 3.3 How many soil rhizobia are needed for prompt nodulation? .......................................................................................................................... 17 3.4 Measuring the number of rhizobia in soil ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17 3.5 What numbers of rhizobia persist in soils? ................................................................................................................................................................... 18 3.6 Factors affecting the survival of rhizobia in soil ......................................................................................................................................................... 19 3.7 Diversity of soil rhizobia ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 3.8 How well do the soil rhizobia fix nitrogen with legumes? .................................................................................................................................. 22 3.9 Dealing with soil rhizobia ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 23 3.10 Concluding comments .................................................................................................................................................................................................................