Do Rhizobia Infect Roots of American Yellowwood and Japanese Pagodatree?

Knowing whether leguminous trees have the potential to nodulate after infection by rhizobial bacteria is important for managing nitrogen (N) applications during tree production and for culture in the landscape. Although 98% of studied species in the Papilionoideae nodulate, the nodulation status of two tree species in this subfamily is uncertain. Cladrastis kentukea (Dum.-Cours.) Rudd (American yellowwood) did not form nodules during inoculation studies in 1939 and 1992. Nodules were observed on mature Sophora japonica L. (Japanese pagodatree) in Japan and Hawaii in the 1940s, but compatible rhizobia reportedly isolated in Japan are no longer held in bacterial collections. Our objective was to verify further that American yellowwood does not nodulate and to confirm reports that Japanese pagodatree does nodulate. Rhizobia that infect many plant hosts, soil samples and rhizobial isolates from other Sophora spp., and soil samples from mature American yellowwood and Japanese pagodatree were used to inoculate 5-day-old seedlings of American yellowwood, Japanese pagodatree, and control species. Soil from indigenous and introduced trees in the continental United States, Hawaii, Japan, and China was used. Inoculated and uninoculated plants were grown for 7 weeks in sterile Leonard jars or clay pots containing perlite and irrigated with sterile, N-free Hoagland's solution. No inoculation treatment elicited nodulation of American yellowwood or Japanese pagodatree. Our results provide additional evidence that American yellowwood lacks that capacity to nodulate and cast further doubt on nodulation of Japanese pagodatree.