EFFECTS OF INOCULATION WITH N2-FIXING CYANOBACTERIA ON THE NITROGENASE ACTIVITY IN SOIL AND RHIZOSPHERE OF WETLAND RICE (ORYZA-SATIVA L)

A greenhouse experiment was conducted with wetland rice (Oryza sativa cv. IR-50) in a clay-loam soil (Fluventic Eutrochrept) to study the effect of cyanobacterial inoculation (a mixed culture of Aulosira fertilissima, Nostoc muscorum, Nostoc spp., and Anabaena spp., applied at the rate of 0.15 g (dry weight pot-1 or 43 kg ha-1) on acetylene reduction activity in soil and the root system (excised root), and the grain and straw yield. The effects of applying P (40 kg ha-1), N (60 kg ha-1), and P + N to the soil were also evaluated. Cyanbacterial inoculation significantly increased (more than 200% on average) photo-dependent acetylene reduction activity in soils, particularly where the indigenous activity was considerably low, i.e. under unfertilized and N-fertilized conditions. The effect of inoculation was prominent at the maximum tillering and grain formation stages of the crop. This inoculation benefit was, however, marginal in P-applied soils (P and P+N), where the indigenous activity was stimulated more than threefold. The inoculation led to a remarkable increase in root-associative acetylene reduction activity after the maximum tillering stage of the crop, particularly with applied N but for other treatments this inoculation effect was not significant. Cyanobacterial inoculation also increased the grain and straw yield of the crop when N was not applied. The grain and straw yield was significantly correlated with the acetylene reduction activity in flooded soils and in the root system during the tillering and maximum tillering stages of rice growth, respectively.