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ABSTRACT
More than 1,200 strains of legume bacteria from 225 species of leguminous plants are stored in the legume bacteria collection at Beltsville, Maryland. Observations were made on longevity and effectiveness of strains of Rhizobium stored under different conditions: (a) stored in a refrigerator on yeast-mannitol agar; (b) stored under oil; and (c) lyophilized. Vegetative tests on 126 refrigerated strains acquired from 1911 to 1930 showed them viable and still able to fix at least some nitrogen (N). However, over a period of years many other strains had lost their ability to fix N and were discarded. After 7 years' storage under oil 190 of 620 strains were viable but they varied markedly by cross-inoculation groups in survival and N fixation. Cross-inoculation groups also showed variation in survival under lyophilization. Rank correlation coefficients for age of strain and decreasing N fixing ability were computed for 16 strain efficiency tests and the results showed a positive correlation only when a large number of new strains were being evaluated.
1 Contribution from Soil and Water Conservation Research Division, ARS, USDA, Beltsville, Md.
The authors acknowledge the assistance of E. J. Koch of the Biometrical Services of ARS in the computations and interpretation of the data in this paper.
2 Bacteriologist and Research Bacteriologist, respectively, Northeast Branch, SWCRD, ARS, USDA, Beltsville, Md.
Received for publication July 10, 1962. Accepted for publication August 15, 1962.
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