| Abstract: | When soybean (Glycine max ) nodulation mutant nts 382 was inoculated with Bradyrhizobium japonicum, these plants nodulated significantly more than the parental type Bragg. Nts 382 seedlings displayed wild-type nodulation pattern when aqueous extracts of young Bragg shoots were applied to the cultural medium together with nutrient solution. Application of young nts 382 shoot extracts to Bragg seedlings did not result in any apparent increase in nodule number. In graft experiments, young shoots from mutant nts 382 induced supernodulation on Bragg root stocks, while no supernodulation was observed when Bragg seedlings were used as scion and grafted onto nts 382 root stocks. Further, the effectiveness of Bragg plant extracts to suppress supernodulation on nts 382 seedlings was found to depend on the age of the plant material used, being very ineffective with extracts from 60-day-old plants. The age effect was not observed in graft experiments. These findings suggest that soybean supernodulation phenomenon may be controlled by one or a few unknown chemicals or plant hormones. |
