Advances in Crop Science and Technology
Open Access

Research Article

Effect of Inoculating Bradyrhizobium on Phosphorus Use Efficiency and Nutrient Uptake of Soybean Intercropped with Sugarcane in Calcareous Soil of Metahara, Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia

Tesfaye Fituma^1*, Tamado Tana² and Anteneh Argaw³

¹Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, Research and Development Center, Wonji, Ethiopia

²School of Plant Sciences, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

³School of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

*Corresponding Author:

Tesfaye Fituma
Ethiopian Sugar Corporation
Research and Development Center
Wonji, PO Box 15, Ethiopia
Tel: +251912054213
E-mail: tesfayefituma@gmail.com

Received Date: June 25, 2017; Accepted Date: July 06, 2017; Published Date: July 13, 2017

Citation: Fituma T, Tana T, Argaw A (2017) Effect of Inoculating Bradyrhizobium on Phosphorus Use Efficiency and Nutrient Uptake of Soybean Intercropped with Sugarcane in Calcareous Soil of Metahara, Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia. Adv Crop Sci Tech 5: 290. doi: 10.4172/2329-8863.1000290

Copyright: © 2017 Fituma T, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

At a soil pH value of above 7.0, inorganic phosphorus (P) is highly susceptible to precipitation as insoluble form that is unavailable to the plants. Hence, a field experiment was conducted at Metahara Sugar Estate under irrigation during the 2014/15 cropping season to evaluate the effect of inoculating Bradyrhizobium on P uptake and P use efficiency of soybean intercropped with sugarcane. The treatments consisted of three levels of inoculation (Legumefix, SB6B1 and uninoculated) and four rates of P (0, 23, 46 and 69 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1). The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in a factorial arrangement and replicated three times. Analysis of the data indicated that Bradyrhizobium inoculation significantly increased plant N concentration and P uptake compared to the uninoculated treatment. But the effect of P rates and its interaction with inoculation was not significant on N concentration and P uptake but significantly increased total P uptake at the application of 69 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1. P use efficiency indices were improved in response to inoculating the crop with Bradyrhizobium. The higher AE (13.6 kg kg^-1), PRE (31.8%) and PUE (10.6 kg kg^-1) were obtained by SB6B1 inoculation and higher PE (117.2 kg kg^-1) and APE (161.7 kg kg^-1) were obtained by Legumefix inoculation all at 23 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1 except PE which recorded at 69 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1. Thus, it can be concluded that SB6B1 isolate will be used as the best inoculant followed by Legumefix isolate with 23 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1 of P fertilizer rate. However, strategies for increasing P use efficiency by adopting best management practices like co-inoculation of phosphate solubilizing microorganism or mycorrhiza with these Bradyrhizobium inoculants should be adopted to enhance P use efficiencies.

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