Abstract

Inoculation of promiscuous soybean with rhizobia has been proven to improve yield. Screenhouse pot experiments were conducted to assess the response of promiscuous soybean, TGx1448-2E to rhizobia inoculation and to determine the relative efficiency of indigenous rhizobia from soils collected from the Northern and Southern Guinea and Sudan Savanna agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. Soils were collected at 0 to 20 cm depth from 45 sites spread in 15 local government areas of Kaduna and Kano states. The treatments used were uninoculated control, mineral nitrogen and Legumefix, a commercial rhizobia inoculant which were arranged in randomized complete block design and replicated three times. Nodulation and biomass were assessed at eight weeks after planting. Response to inoculation and relative efficiency were also determined. The results showed that response to inoculation was higher in the Sudan Savanna than in the Northern Guinea Savanna. These were observed in 12 out of 21 and 9 out of 19 sites in the Sudan Savanna and Northern Guinea Savanna, respectively. Of these, inoculation response reached 62 and 90% in two sites in the Sudan Savanna while it barely reached 20% in the remaining sites. The results also showed a relative efficiency which is greater than 100% in some locations. This implies that the indigenous rhizobia populations were superior to mineral nitrogen and Legumefix inoculant. Notable among the locations were ALB 1, GRK 1, SOB 4 and KOL, which spread across all the agro-ecological zones. Strains from such locations have high potential for use as inoculants.

Key words: Legumefix, mineral nitrogen, inoculation, indigenous strains, agro-ecological zones.