Characterization of Rhizobium loti Strains Native from the Salado River Basin. Studies on Symbiotic Potential

M.M. FULCHIERI, M.J. ESTRELLA Y A.A. IGLESIAS

Lotus Newsletter

Año: 1999 vol. 30 p. 2 - 5

0316-0106

Introduction.The Salado River Basin is an extensive area in Buenos Aires province (Argentina). Soils in this area arecharacterized by a high salinity, being poorly drained and periodically exposed to waterlogged conditions. Theregion is mainly utilized for beef and dairy cattle production, with principal feed for these purposes representedby native grassland and naturalized Lotus glaber (Montes 1987). Lotus is a legume associated, in a symbioticway, with bacteria belonging to the genus Rhizobium loti, thus producing root nodules where the nitrogenfixation process occurs. R. lotistrains commonly found in soils of the Salado River Basin are capable of forming nodules quite specifically withL. glaber (Estrella et al. 1997). However, the characterization of native R. loti strains was not performed and dataconcerning the potential symbiotic capacity of these strains are not currently available.Rhizobium loti-legume host association shows some characteristics which are different