The Response of Soyabean to Rhizobium Inoculation on an Alfisol in Minna, Southern Guinea Savanna Zone of Nigeria .

Abstract

Growth, nodulation and yield response of soybean to rhizobium was evaluated in a field experiment at the experimental farm of the Federal University of Technology, Minna during the 2010 rainy season. Treatment consisted of five varieties of soybeans, TGX144-2E, TGX1951-2E. TGX1945-3F, TGX1835-10F and a local check, either uninoculated or inoculated with ‘legume fix' The experimental layout was 2x5 factorial experiment arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The result revealed a significant (p< 0.05) inoculation x variety effect on grain yield, nodule dry weight days to 50% flowering and podding. For inoculated plots, TGX1448-2E had the highest nodule dry weights of 0.31 g plant-1 followed by TGX 1945-3F, local verity and TGX 1835-10F in that sequence. With the exception of TGX 1835-10f, inoculation increased nodule weight of all the varieties. Among the inoculated treatments, TGX1448-2E produced the largest grain yields followed by TGX1951-3F, while the yield produced by TGX1835-10F was the smallest. The same trend was observed among the uninoculated treatments, except that local variety had the second best yield. On the average, inoculated variety of TGX1951-3F, TGX1845-1F and TGX 1835-10F had the second best flowering date than the local variety and TGX144-2E in that order. The uninoculated treatments exhibited the same trend except that the local variety flowered later than others. Similarly, inoculated plots of the local variety podded later than those of TGX1448-2E, TGX1835-10F, TGX1945-1F and TGX1951-3F in that sequence. A similar pattern was observed for the uninoculated plots, except that TGX1448-2E podded earlier than TGX1951-3F