Peas (Pisum sativum L.) with strain specificity for Rhizobium leguminosarum

• Published in: Heredity 1984-06, Vol.52 (3), p.383-389
• Main Authors: Kneen, B E, Larue, T A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Cytogenetics; Ecology; Evolutionary Biology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Human Genetics; original-article; Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Soil science; Vegetals
• ISSN: 0018-067X; 1365-2540
• DOI: 10.1038/hdy.1984.46

Summary Seven varieties of Pisum sativum from Afghanistan, Iran, Tibet and Turkey were tested for nodulation by 25 diverse strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum . The pea varieties were resistant to nodulation by 13 rhizobial strains from temperate regions, and formed few or no nodules. The varieties nodulated with 4 of 12 rhizobial strains from Middle Eastern soils. The plant-rhizobia specificity was identical to Pisum sativum var. “Afghanistan”. Crosses were made among five nodulation resistant varieties and “Afghanistan”. Genetic analysis indicates that the strain specific nodulation resistance in each of the five pea varieties is allelic with the sym-2 gene in “Afghanistan”. Surveys of worldwide pea collections have failed to discover varieties which are never nodulated by any rhizobial strain. There appears, however, to be a class of nodulation resistant peas from the Middle East which have the same restricted strain specificity.