A nursery experiment was conducted in un-sterilized soil in Senegal using six Calliandra species or provenances inoculated with a mixture of seven rhizobial strains. Plant growth was assessed periodically at 1, 2, 3, 12 and 18 months whereas nodulation, shoot and root dry weights were assessed at 12 and 18 months after planting (MAP). Un-inoculated seedlings of all the six species died at 12 months after planting. Results of growth assessments were variable with significant differences (P < 0.05) between C. calothyrsus Meissn provenances (Flores and San Ramón) and C. juzepczukii Standley in height at 1, 2 and 3 MAP. Shoot dry weights of San Ramón provenance of C. calothyrsus Meissn were also significantly different from those of C. acapulcensis (Britton and Rose) Standley and C. longepedicellata (Mc Vaugh) H. Hern and Macqueen at 18 MAP. In contrast, C. glandiflora (L’Her.) Benth grew poorly and did not nodulate. Although rhizobial inoculation improved shoot and root dry weights some differences were observed among the Calliandra species in response to the inoculation, which suggested the occurrence of interaction between the rhizobial strains and the host plant species tested.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buy single article
Instant access to the full article PDF.
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.
Bala A, Giller K (2001) Symbiotic specificity of tropical tree rhizobia for host legumes. New Phytol 149:495–507
Chamberlain JR (2001) Calliandra calothyrsus: an agroforestry tree for the humid tropics. Tropical forestry papers no 40. Oxford Forestry Institute, Oxford, 100 pp
Dommergues YR (1995) Nitrogen fixation by trees in relation to soil nitrogen economy. Fertil Res 42:215–230
Dommergues YR, Duhoux E, Diem HG (1999) Les arbres fixateurs d’azote: caractéristiques fondamentales et rôle dans l’aménagement des écosystèmes méditerranéens et tropicaux. CIRAD (Montpellier), Espace editions, 34 (Montpellier), FAO (Roma), IRD (Paris), 500 pp
Duguma B, Mollet M (1997) Provenance evaluation of Calliandra calothyrsus Meissner in the humid lowlands of Cameroon. Agrofor Syst 37:45–57
Evans DO (1996) Proceedings of the international workshop on the genus Calliandra. Forest, farm and community tree research reports, special issue. Winrock International, Morrilton, 268 pp
Gutteridge RC, Shelton HM (1994) Forage tree legumes in tropical agriculture. CAB International, Wallingford, 389 pp
Halliday J, Somasegaran P (1984) The rhizobium germplasm resource at NifTAL; catalog of strains. University of Hawai, USA
Ingleby K, Fahmer A, Wilson J et al (2001) Interactions between mycorrhizal infection colonization, nodulation and growth of Calliandra calothyrsus seedlings supplied with different concentrations of phosphorus solution. Symbiosis 30:15–28
Lesueur D, Diouf D (2002) Combined effects of rhizobia inoculation and host plant origin on growth and nodulation of Calliandra calothyrsus. In: Finan TM, O’Brian MR, Layzell MB, Vessey JK, Newton W (eds) Nitrogen fixation: global perspectives, proceedings of the 13th international congress on nitrogen fixation, Hamilton, Canada, 2–7 July 2001. CAB International, Wallington
Lesueur D, Sarr A (2008) Effects of single and dual inoculation with selected microsymbionts (rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) on growth and nitrogen fixation of Calliandra calothyrsus Meissn. under nursery and field conditions. Agrofor Syst 73:37–45
Lesueur D, Ingleby K, Odee D et al (2001) Improvement of forage production in Calliandra calothyrsus: methodology for the identification of an effective inoculum containing Rhizobium strains and arbuscular mycorrhizal isolates. J Biotechnol 91:269–282
Macqueen DJ (1993) Calliandra series Racemosae: taxonomic information; OFI seed collections; trial design. Oxford Forestry Institute, Oxford, 157 pp
Navarro E, Simonet P, Normand P et al (1992) Characterization of natural populations of nitrobacter spp. using PCR/RFLP analysis of the ribosomal intergenic spacer. Arch Microbiol 157:107–115
Odee D, Lesueur D, Poshiwa X et al (2008) Management of symbionts to improve growth, productivity and biological nitrogen fixation in Calliandra calothyrsus based agroforestry systems. In: Dakora FD, Chimphango SBM, Valentine AJ, Elmerich C, Newton W (eds) Biological nitrogen fixation: towards poverty alleviation through sustainable agriculture. Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 81–82
Ponsonnet C, Nesme X (1994) Identification of Agrobacterium strains by PCR-RFLP analysis of pTi and chromosomal region. Arch Microbiol 16:300–309
Pottinger AJ, Lesueur D (2003) Proceedings of the final meeting of the project entitled “Evaluation and use of the biodiversity of the microsymbionts of Calliandra calothyrsus to optimize fodder production within small-scale farming systems in the humid zone”, Montpellier, France, 20–23 November 2001. European Commission, Brussels, 60 pp
Sanginga N, Bowen GD, Danso SKA (1990) Assessment of genetic variability for N2 fixation between and within provenances of Leucaena leucocephala and Acacia albida estimated by 15N techniques. Plant Soil 127:169–178
Sanginga N, Manrique K, Hardason G (1991) Variation in nodulation and N2 fixation by the Gliricidia sepium/Rhizobium spp. symbiosis in a calcareous soil. Biol Fertil Soils 11:273–278
Sarr A, Diop B, Peltier R et al (2005) Effect of rhizobial inoculation methods and host plant provenances on nodulation and growth of Acacia senegal and Acacia nilotica. New For 29:75–87
Vincent JM (1970) A manual for the practical study of root-nodule bacteria. International Biological Programme. Handbook n° 15. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 280 pp
This work was funded by the European Commission (INCO DEV contract ICA-CT-2001-10093). The authors are grateful to Aliou Faye, Jacques Biagui, Cheikh Ndiaye and Lamine Ba for their technical assistance in the nursery and in the field. We wish to thank Dr. David Odee for reviewing the manuscript and editing the English.
About this article
Cite this article
Lesueur, D., Founoune, H., Lebonvallet, S. et al. Effect of rhizobial inoculation on growth of Calliandra tree species under nursery conditions. New Forests 39, 129–137 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-009-9166-3
- Calliandra genus
- Nitrogen-fixing symbiosis