Growth of seedlings of five half-sib families of Erythrina poeppigiana inoculated with a selected strain of Bradyrhizobium

Seeds of five half-sib families of Erythrina poeppigiana (Walpers)O.F. Cook from Costa Rica (2428, 2429, 2431, 2435 and 2444 of the Latin American Forest Seed Bank, CATIE) were inoculated with a selected strain of Bradyrhizobium (CR751 of the University of Costa Rica) and grown in a greenhouse under N-free conditions. At 475 days after planting, thee were significant differences in the number of nodules on seedlings from the different families. At 75 days we found significant differences in the number of nodules and leaves, leaf biomass, root biomass and root/shoot ratio. The average number of nodules varied from 34 (2444) to 70 per seedling (2431). leaf and root biomass were positively correlated with the number of nodules (Pearson r = 0.65 and r = 0.69, respectively). We conclude that interactions between families of E. poeppigiana and strains of Bradyrhizobium species should be considered if the trees are to be inoculated.

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