An Efficient Nutrient Solution System to Study Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Soybean

doi:10.11983/CBB18007

Abstract

Abstract: To establish a nutrient solution system for soybean cultivation with effective nodulation and relatively high yield, we first evaluated the effect of nitrogen (N) content and rhizobia inoculation on soybean growth, yield and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). Too high or too low N supply affected soybean growth, yield and N₂ fixation capacity. Also, the required optimal N level was much higher for plant growth than that of BNF. Furthermore, the highest nitrogenase activity in soybean occurred before the first stage of reproduction (R1 stage). Thus, the enzyme activity could facilitate nodule formation and N₂ fixation with a lower N supply before the R1 stage and a higher N supply afterward to promote plant growth and yield in soybean. A second experiment was conducted to optimize N supply (i.e., low N supply before R1 and medium N supply at the beginning of R1). As compared with continuously supplied high N, the optimal scheme promoted BNF with more and larger nodules with higher nitrogenase activity and also maintained a good growth performance with higher 100 grain weight and about sustained 80% of soybean yield. These results provide a reference for nutrient receipt for soybean BNF study as well as soybean production for high yield and nutrient efficiency.

Key words: soybean, nodule, biological nitrogen fixation, nutrient solution, yield

Ai Wenqin, Jiang Hanyuan, Li Xinxin, Liao Hong. An Efficient Nutrient Solution System to Study Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Soybean[J]. Chinese Bulletin of Botany, 2018, 53(4): 519-527.

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URL: https://www.chinbullbotany.com/EN/10.11983/CBB18007

https://www.chinbullbotany.com/EN/Y2018/V53/I4/519

Figures/Tables 7

Figure 1 Effects of nitrogen supply on soybean nodulation(A) Nodule number; (B) Nodules fresh weight; (C) Average nodules fresh weight. V4 and R1 represent different growth stages of soybean. N1-N5 indicate 300 μmol·L-1, 900 μmol·L-1, 2 400 μmol·L-1, 4 800 μmol·L-1 and 7 200 μmol·L-1 nitrogen level, respectively. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different N supply levels (P<0.05).

Figure 2 Effects of nitrogen supply on nitrogenase activity at different growth stages of soybean(A) V4 stage; (B) R1 stage. N1-N5 see Figure 1. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different N supply levels (P<0.05).

Table 1 Effect of nitrogen supply levels and inoculation of rhizobium on soybean growth and yield

F value	Shoot dry weight	Root dry weight	Grain weight	Hundred grain weight
N	67.15***	134.57***	50.75***	36.33***
R	0.89*	2.11*	49.53***	0.398
N×R	4.31*	14.80***	8.31***	4.45**

Figure 3 Effects of nitrogen supply on soybean growth(A) Up-ground dry weight; (B) Root dry weight. N1-N5 see Figure 1. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different N supply levels (P<0.05).

Figure 4 Effects of nitrogen supply levels on soybean yield(A) Pictures of soybean seeds; (B) Grain weight; (C) Hundred grain weight. N1-N5 see Figure 1. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different N supply levels (P<0.05).

Figure 5 Effects of rhizobium inoculation on soybean nodule growth and nitrogenase activity(A) Pictures of nodules; (B) Nodule number; (C) Nodule dry weight; (D) Nitrogenase activity. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different growth stages of soybean (P<0.05).

Figure 6 Soybean yield as affected by different nitrogen or rhizobia inoculation treatments(A) Pod number; (B) Grain number; (C) Grain weight; (D) Hundred grain weight. LN-R: Low N without inoculation treatment; LN+R: Low N with inoculation treatment; HN-R: High N without inoculation treatment. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different treatments (P<0.05).

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