ABSTRACT
49 rhizobia strains,isolated from root nodules of broadbean(Vicaia faba L.) in 11 provinces of China were studied by analysis of 138 phenotypic characteristics.All the strains collected together at the boundary of 59% similarity.At the similarity of 80% there were 6 groups which were all composed of strains isolated from the root nodules of broadbean except the cluster 4 included one reference strain.Based on the results of numerical taxonomy,25 strains as the representation of the broadbean rhizobia with 11 reference strains were selected to PCR-RFLP of 16S rDNA analysis.The strains were clustered into 4 groups at the similarity of 85% with another 1 unattached embranchment.The cluster status of 16S rDNA PCR-RFLP was in good agreement with that of numerical taxonomy on the similarity level of 80%.Overall the results demonstrated a high phenotypic and phylogenetic diversity of rhizobia strains nodulating broadbean.