ABSTRACT
Aim of present study is to evaluate the effect of salinity on the growth of Rhizobium symbiosis with various cultivars of Berseem (WARDAN, BB3, JHB 052 and BB2). Two sets of plots were maintained in which one set contained non-inoculated while another set contained inoculated seeds with Rhizobium culture, which were irrigated with saline waters of different concentrations (0, 3, 6, 7.2, 10, 12 and 14 dSm-1). The observations have been recorded only at 90 and 120 DAS but nodular leghaemoglobin had been estimated at 90th day stage. Results indicated that nodulation and lb content had been increased generally upto 7.2 dSm-1 and declined thereafter. Inoculation with Rhizobium culture had invariably and significantly promoted nodulation and lb content at both durations particularly at lower EC levels and minimized the deleterious effect of salinity at 10 to 14 dSm-1. Taken together, our findings indicate that cv. BB3 produced maximum nodulation and lb content almost at all saline irrigations but cv. WARDAN registered beneficial effect of Rhizobium culture inoculation as this cultivar registered greater lb content at 3 to 7.2 dSm-1 and lesser reductions at 10 to 14 dSm-1 when compared with uninoculated sets. We concluded that this experiment reveals the great impact of Rhizobium trifolii culture on berseem cultivars along with the use of saline soil and water for agriculture without using fertile land and normal water, hence there will be a substantial conservation of normal water and soil for further use.