Adhesive Increases Inoculation efficiency in White Clover
1979
Waggoner, J. A. | Evers, G. W. | Weaver, R. W.
Relatively few fields in the southern USA contain sufficient numbers of Rhizobium trifolii to nodulate Trifolium species adequately. Thus, it is essential to know the extent to which current inoculation practices provide rhizobia for adequate nodulation. The nodulation of white clover (T. repens L.) grown from seed inoculated with a peat base inoculant using water or gum arabic as the adhesive was compared. The clover was sown in a Crowley sandy loam having a pH of 6.4. This soil contained fewer than 100 R. trifolii/g. Adequacy of inoculation was evaluated by determining plant dry matter production, percentage protein, nodule number and weight, and acetylene reduction. Inoculation with enough peat to supply 600 rhizobia/seed was adequate when applied with gum arabic, but not with water. Inoculation procedures normally supply approximately 200 rhizobia per seed. There was no significant difference between the uninoculated treatment and the inoculant treatment applied with water for any of the parameters used except for nodule weight at an early sampling date. When gum arabic was used, increasing the number of rhizobia from 600 to 3,000/seed did not significantly increase any parameter. Clover growth was nearly doubled by good inoculation.
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