Cephahbus parvus as a carrier of Rhizobium japonicum in field experiment on soybean cultures

Two methods of soybean seeds inoculation by Rhizobium japonicum have been compared in a field experiment : i) traditional use of inoculated turf embedding the seeds; ii) use of Cephalobus parvus as bacterial carrier (3 O00 and 300 O00 nematodes per linear meter). There is no difference in yield between the inoculation methods in spite of a greater number of bacterial germs provided by nematode inoculation probably because there is a limit to the number of bacteria that can be used by one soybean seed. Any bacterium above this limit cannot be used by the seed. With turf inoculation al1 the nodules are localized at the root collar whereas with nematode inoculation they are regularly distributed on the rootlets. This is beneficial in case of soil surface drying which destroys nodules at the root collar.