NITROGEN-FIXATION IN FAIDHERBIA-ALBIDA, ACACIA-RADDIANA, ACACIA-SENEGAL AND ACACIA-SEYAL ESTIMATED USING THE N-15 ISOTOPE-DILUTION TECHNIQUE

A pot experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using the N-15 isotope dilution method and two reference plants, Parkia biglobosa and Tamarindus indica to estimate nitrogen fixed in four Acacia species : A raddiana, A, senegal, A. seyal and Faidherbia albida (synonym Acacia albida). For the reference plants, the N-15 enrichments in leaves, stems and roots were similar. With the fixing plants, leaves and stems had similar (1)5N enrichments; they were higher than the N-15 enrichment of roots. The amounts of nitrogen fixed at 5 months after planting were similar using either reference plant. Estimates of the percentage of N derived from fixation (%Ndfa) for the above ground parts, in contrast to %Ndfa in roots, were similar to those for the whole plant. However, none of the individual plant parts estimated accurately total N fixed in the whole plant, and excluding the roots resulted in at least 30% underestimation of the amounts of N fixed. Between species, differences in N-2 fixation were observed, both for %Ndfa and total N fixed. For %Ndfa, the best were A. seyal (average, 63%) and A, raddiana (average, 62%), being at least twice the %Ndfa in A. senegal and F. albida. Because of its very high N content, A. seyal was clearly the best in total N fixed, fixing 1.62 g N plant(-1) compared to an average of 0.48 g N plant-' for the other Acacia species. Our results show the wide variability existing between Acacia species in terms of both %Ndfa and total N fixed : A. seyal was classified as having a high N-2 fixing potential (NFP) while the other Acacia species had a low NFP.