Intra- and inter-specific competition in Rhizobium fredii and Bradyrhizobium japonicum as indigenous and introduced organisms

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Abstract
We studied the competition between Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Rhizobium fredii isolates for nodulation of soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) cultivars Williams and Ai Jiao Zao grown in three different soils in pots. Two of the soils were from People's Republic of China, one from a soybean field in Honghu with no history of Rhizobium inoculation, and one from a rice field in Wuhan with no history of soybean cultivation. The Honghu soil contained B. japonicum and R. fredii (log total number g−1 = 5.82 ± 0.58); whereas the Wuhan soil only contained B. japonicum (log total number g−1 = 2.80 ± 0.52). Inoculation did not result in a significant increase in nodule number on plants in either soil. Uninoculated plants of both cultivars harbored only R. fredii in the Honghu soil and only B. japonicum in the Wuhan soil. Even when B. japonicum were inoculated into the Honghu soil, R. fredii occupied the majority of the nodules on both cultivars. In the Wuhan soil, B. japonicum serogroups USDA110 and USDA136b (= CB1809) occupied the majority of the nodules except when an isolate of R. fredii from the soybean soil was added in high numbers. In a Hawaiian soil devoid of B. japanicum or R. fredii, when soybeans were inoculated with isolates of both species, most of the nodules were formed by B. japonicum. The R. fredii isolate could form up to 20% of nodules in this soil, but only on the Ai Jia Zao cultivar. In the Wuhan but not the Hawaiian soil, peat pelleting of seeds with equal numbers of two B. japonicum and one R. fredii isolates increased nodule occupancy by B. japonicum USDA136b serogroup significantly as compared with when the same isolates were inoculated into the soil. The results reported here highlight the critical importance of being indigenous to the competitive success of B. japonicum and R. fredii in nodulation of their soybean host.