National Pulses Research Centre, Vamban Colony, Tamilnadu-622 303, India.
A field study was conducted during kharif seasons of 2003 and 2004 in low nutrient acid stress soil. Seven strains of Rhizobium were compared for their symbiotic performance with the host legume, green gram. The rhizobial strain, VRM3 obtained from the host grown under acid soil performed better than the other strains. This acid tolerant strain demonstrated a comparative advantage of over acid sensitive strains in their ability to nodulate and thereby promoting the growth and yield of green gram. Combined inoculation of this strain with phosphobacteria and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) resulted in improvement of crop yield over single inoculation under acid soil conditions.
