Suitability of some agricultural wastes and locally available farm materials for the production of bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculants

ABSTRACT

Field experiments were conducted to assess the performance of some inoculants prepared in several agricultural wastes as carriers for Bradyrhizobium. Peat was used for a comparison. Sterile and non- sterile carriers inoculated with Bradyrhizobium japonicum strain USDA 110 were stored at 7 degrees as well as at room temperature, after a period of two weeks incubation, to allow adequate growth of rhizobia before storing. The study also included the effects of inoculation on the nodulation, growth, N-content, yield of soybean and N fixed by the plant rhizobia symbiotic system. Inoculant prepared on cotton seed husk compost as carrier was superior to all other inoculants. Uninoculated plants failed to form nodules. Non-sterile inoculants prepared in berseem straw charcoal, soil and soil reclaimator ameliorator polymeric gel [RAPG] as carriers, did not produce nodular tissue on the roots of the inoculated plants. This indicates that most of rhizobia were not able to survive in such carriers. The response of soybean to inoculation differed according to the type of inoculant. The response of soybean to inoculation was greater with sterile carriers compared to non-sterile carriers