Work

Screening high symbiotic matching combinations of rhizobia and alfalfa varieties in saline soil

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Rhizobium inoculation can improve alfalfa performance, but responses depend on both plant genotype and growing environment. We first screened 14 rhizobial strains plus one commercial inoculant with Medicago varia ‘Caoyuan No. 3’ (CY3) in a greenhouse pot experiment, together with an uninoculated control (16 treatments; three pots per treatment). Based on plant height, root length, leaf number, nodule number, and above- and belowground biomass after two months, SJN, HH, and HK were selected as higher-performing strains, whereas XBC, SWL, and XH were retained as lower-performing comparators. These six strains were then evaluated with CY3, Medicago sativa ‘Aohan’ (AH), and M. sativa ‘Adrenalin’ (ADN) in a replicated field experiment. Individual growth and nutritional responses varied among varieties and growth stages. At flowering, XH increased CY3 above-ground biomass by 113% relative to CK, whereas the reported TOPSIS composite ranking placed CY3+XBC first overall. The corresponding composite rankings placed AH+SJN and ADN+SWL first; notably, CK ranked second for ADN. Thus, ‘optimal’ refers to the highest reported composite score across the measured growth, nodulation and nutritional indicators, not superiority for every individual trait. Because symbiotic nitrogen fixation was not measured directly and a pre-sowing physicochemical baseline for the field soil was unavailable, the findings should be interpreted as context-dependent agronomic responses rather than direct quantification of nitrogen fixation or remediation of saline soil.

Source: Frontiers in Plant Science

DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1953432