Soil factors exhibit greater influence than bacterial inoculation on alfalfa growth and nitrogen fixation

In order to study the effects of soil factors and bacterial inoculation on alfalfa (Medicago sativa), plants were inoculated with Ensifer meliloti L33 and Azospirillum brasilense Sp7 in pot experiments using two different soils separately as well as in a mixture. One soil was contaminated with chemical waste products; the other was an arable soil. Soil factors, including the availability of macro- and micronutrients as well as carbon and nitrogen contents, were found to exhibit a much greater influence on the growth of alfalfa than any of the inoculations. In contaminated soil, the shoot and root growth of alfalfa was decreased and nodules were diminished and ineffective. Bacterial inoculations did not significantly improve this hostile growth environment. However, in a mixture (44% arable, 22% contaminated soil, 34% vermiculite), growth conditions for alfalfa were improved so that shoot dry weight and nodule numbers increased up to 100- and 20-fold, respectively, compared with the contaminated soil. For the strain L33, its persistence in the rhizosphere was correlated to the presence of its host plant, but its dynamics were influenced by competition with indigenous rhizobia. The strain Sp7, once provided with a suitable soil, was not dependent on the plant's rhizosphere, but it enhanced the performance of L33 and native rhizobia.