An assessment of legume root nodulation by two grain legumes in response to inoculation and fertilizer source suggests that nodulation number, frequency of crown nodulation and the effectiveness of symbiosis may be controlled by crop management. Two grain legumes, climbing bean “Kenya Tamu” and soyabean SB19 were established at twelve locations in west Kenya. They were planted using different fertilizer and inocluation treatments and nodule production was scored after eight weeks.

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The N2Africa project sent out invitation to global inoculant manufacturers to tender for the supply of soyabean inoculants for the project’s research and development activities in 2011 and to consider establishing partnerships with local agro-dealers in all 8 N2Africa countries. This was done to ensure, that the project provides smallholder farmers with the best quality inoculants available.

Winning bids were selected based on offer of high quality products at the most cost-effective rates. The minimal conditions set for the bids were that the product to be supplied must:

Dr Bruce Knight of the legume Technology, UK, was in Zimbabwe on 26^th June-2^nd July 2011 to work with staff of the inoculant production plant at the Soil Productivity and Research Laboratory (SPRL), Marondera. Legume Technology Ltd is the producer of LegumeFix inoculants for various legume crops and Bruce was engaged by N2Africa as a consultant for his tremendous experience in the inoculant manufacturing industry.

Since the late 19th century, root nodulating rhizobia (RNB), commonly known as rhizobia, have been known to be responsible for fixing atmospheric nitrogen on legumes. This knowledge soon led to the practice of inoculation, with early adoption achieved by transferring soil from field to field, or soil to seed before planting. However, this was quickly replaced by the use of pure cultures on agar slants, and later on as broths. Inoculant industries were first established in the 1920s and the global practice of inoculation today is valued at more than UD$ 10 billion annually.

The ISAR Microbiology Laboratory leads N2Africa rhizobiology activities in Rwanda and liaises with related actions in DR Congo and Rwanda. The team at ISAR is responsible for both Agronomy (Objective 2) and Rhizobiology (Objective 3) activities in Rwanda. The Microbiology Laboratory has cultured 80 isolates from bean and soyabean. Twenty-nine of these isolates were characterized and classified by Congo Red morphotype, BTB reaction and Gram Srain.

Laboratory and greenhouse facilities in African countries are undergoing upgrade and complete makeover – thanks to the substantial investment in state-of-the-art facilities being made by N2Africa to enhance the capacity of NARS to carry out research in rhizobiology and general soil microbiology.  More details in the full new item.

This issue of the Podcaster is devoted to N2Africa’s work in rhizobiology and rhizobial inoculants. While a general lack of technical and scientific capacity in soil microbiology and rhizobiology remains a general concern across the project, you can read about the ongoing initiatives to upgrade facilities and train staff, on actions to procure high quality inoculants and make them available to smallholder farmers, and to work on regulations to ensure that inoculants can be moved readily between countries. Some updates on ongoing research are also presented.

Here we share the revised Agricultural Development Strategy recently sent to N2Africa.

The Soya team from TechnoServe sent us their latest newsletter in Portugese.