Interaction Amongst Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] Genotype, Soil Type and Inoculant Strain with Regard to N2 Fixation

The nitrogen (N2)‐fixing bacterial inoculant strain for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is not indigenous to South African soils. The interaction between soybean genotype, soil type and inoculant strain, however, has a definite influence on soybean production and compatibility should be optimized. This paper reports a growth chamber study using three different soybean genotypes (Barc‐9, Avuturda and Talana), three Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculant strains (WB108, WB112 and WB1) and three soil types (Avalon, Arcadia and sand) to evaluate the effectiveness of N2 fixation by different genotype × soil type × inoculant strain combinations, using different measuring parameters. These parameters included nodule fresh mass (NFM), amount of N2 fixed (Pfix), as determined by the ureide method, seed protein content (SPC), average seed mass per plant (SMP) and average foliar N content (FNC). The comparison amongst the three‐way interactions, genotype × soil type × inoculant strain, did not differ significantly for the parameters used. Significant two‐way interactions were soil × inoculant for FNC, Pfix and SMP; soil × genotype for FNC and SMP, and inoculant × genotype for FNC (P