Experiments with Rhizobial Inoculants in Hungarian Soils

Summary Field trials examining the influence of Rhizobium inoculation were set up on two Hungarian soil types/ calcareous sandy soil and calcareous chernozem soil/with pea, horsebean and soya plants. The air-dried seed yield/calculated for 86% dry matter/was evaluated by bifactorial variance analysis. Results showed that even Rhizobium inoculation in itself increases the seed yields. In addition, if P- and K-fertilizers were applied, the yields increased significantly. This could be mainly observed with soybeans and peas. However, using NPK-fertilization, the beneficial effect of Rhizobium inoculation was restrained. Rhizobium inoculation of leguminous plants representes an integral part of up-to-date plant cultivation technology and its wide introduction increases significantly the yields of legumes and decreases the production costs.