Effect of rhizobia inoculation on the seed (herbage) production of mungbean (Phaseolus aureusRoxb.) grown at Uzbekistan

In field trials conducted at Uzbekistan, inoculation of mungbean (Phaseolus aureusRoxb.) with commercial strain CIAM1901 ofBradyrhizobiumsp. (Phaseolus) increased (on average for two cultivars) the herbage mass by 46·6±6·0%, seed mass by 39·2 ± 3·6%, mass of 1000 seeds by 16·0 ± 0·8%, nitrogen content in seeds by 58·3 ± 8·9%, starch content in seeds by 30·0 ± 5·5% and number of nodules by 254%. Inoculation with this strain produced the same herbage (seed) mass as NH₄NO₃application (120 kg ha⁻¹of N), while the combined treatment of rhizobia and 60 kg ha⁻¹of N produced significantly higher yields than rhizobia inoculation alone or application of 120 kg ha⁻¹of N. The rhizobia strain M11 was isolated from Uzbekistan soils and significantly exceeded the commercial strain CIAM1901 in its influence on herbage mass by 3·9–10·6%. Two-factor analysis of variance demonstrated that the herbage mass and number of nodules are controlled mainly by the rhizobia strain genotypes, while seed yield, number of pods, mass of 1000 seeds and N and starch content in seeds are influenced by the plant cultivar genotypes.