ELIZABETH A. VEASEY, ODETE M.A.A. GHISI, MARIA JOSÉ VALARINI, IVANI P. OTSUK, MÁRCIA A. CARDELLI, MARIA JOSEFA F. SANCHEZ and DARCY A. BEISMAN

Instituto de Zootecnia, Nova Odessa, São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

The early growth and nodulation potential of 13 species of the following genera: Cajanus, Codariocalyx, Cratylia, Desmanthus, Desmodium, Leucaena and Sesbania, comprising 20 accessions, were evaluated under greenhouse conditions. The accessions were harvested 6 times at 7-day intervals starting 21 days after planting. At each harvest, the following characters were recorded: plant height (PH), root length (RL), top growth dry weight (TGDW), root dry weight (RDW), and nodule number (NN). Significant differences (P < 0.01) were revealed among accessions, harvest times and their interaction in all characters. The species, S. exasperata, S. sesban and S. tetraptera, exhibited abundant nodulation, with large, round, multilobed nodules, of the astragaloid type, and surpassed the other species in PH, TGDW and RDW. Desmodium and Codariocalyx produced small desmodioid type nodules, and Cajanus cajan large, round nodules. S. punicea, S. virgata and L. leucocephala did not nodulate in the soil used.