A FOUR-YEAR QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA IN SOILS OF DIFFERENT FERTILIZER TREATMENT
Numbers of Rhizobium trifolii, Rh. leguminosarum, Rh. meliloti and Azotobacter were determined at four-week intervals throughout a four-year crop rotation in three soils which had been receiving for twenty years no fertilizer, manure, and artificial fertilizer respectively. Though relatively small differences were noted in numbers of Rh. trifolii in the three soils, Rh. leguminosarum and Rh. meliloti persisted in much higher numbers in the two fertilized areas than in the unfertilized soil. Rh. trifolii, the only species with host plant in the rotation, occurred in much greater numbers than the other species, not only during and immediately following clover, but in succeeding years when little or no decline was noted. Apart from the effect of clover on Rh. trifolii no significant effect of cropping was noted nor was seasonal influence important. Freezing of the soil for three months each year produced little or no effect on the numbers of Rhizobia.Numbers of Azotobacter were consistently higher in the unfertilized soil than in the fertilized areas. A seasonal effect was noted, with maximum numbers in March and minimum numbers in July, while freezing caused no noticeable diminution in colony count. The numbers of Azotobacter found were in all cases low and suggest that the part played by this organism in nitrogen fixation in field soil is still obscure.Rh. trifolii, Azotobacter and total numbers of bacteria by the plate method showed no relation with the productivity of the soils. Numbers of Rh. leguminosarum and Rh. meliloti showed better agreement, though only in the case of Rh. meliloti were relative numbers consistent with the soils in order of crop yields throughout the rotation.