Table 2.

Nodule number (NN, n° plant⁻¹) and dry weight (NDW, mg plant⁻¹), shoot dry weight (SDW, g plant⁻¹), total N accumulation in shoots (TNS, mg plant⁻¹) and relative effectiveness (RE, %) of soybean, cultivar BRS 133, inoculated with 87 isolates from Mozambique, for each BOX-PCR cluster and five reference strains, B. elkanii SEMIA 587 and SEMIA 5019, B. japonicum SEMIA 5079, and B. diazoefficiens SEMIA 5080 and USDA 110. Trial performed under greenhouse conditions in Londrina, Brazil, and plants harvested at 35 days after emergence.

Cluster a	Isolates	Source b	Species name c	NN d	NDW	SDW	TNS	RE e
1	29, 31	5	Bradyrhizobium sp.	79.9	456.66	3.1	59.47	73.0
2	27f	4	Bradyrhizobium sp.	65.5	493.08	5.2	146.15	129.5
3	97	14	Bradyrhizobium sp.	68.8	352.67	3.6	92.65	88.0
4	95f	14	Bradyrhizobium sp.	68.4	397.79	4.2	102.18	98.9
5	10	2	Rhizobium sp.	7.0	29.14	0.8	6.51	18.2
6	38f	6	Rhizobium sp.	73.0	541.83	4.0	100.71	96.4
7	85, 87, 88	13	Rhizobium sp.	29.1	121.02	1.7	38.00	40.0
8	52, 53	8	Bradyrhizobium sp.	22.2	79.05	1.0	12.60	22.9
9	56	8	Bradyrhizobium sp.	11.8	54.59	0.8	6.97	18.3
10	34	5	Bradyrhizobium sp.	29.1	236.00	2.1	30.74	48.8
11	81,82	12	Bradyrhizobium sp.	10.9	37.42	0.8	8.14	19.4
12	46, 48	7	Bradyrhizobium sp.	14.3	56.58	0.9	9.80	21.0
13	60, 61f	9	Bradyrhizobium sp.	77.3	419.79	4.7	130.59	112.0
14	37, 39f, 40f, 41	6	Bradyrhizobium sp.	75.5	555.01	4.7	124.22	109.4
	20, 22f, 23, 24f, 25	3,4
15	26, 28, 30, 32, 33,	4,5	Bradyrhizobium sp.	75.7	519.38	5.2	132.27	120.5
	35, 57, 58, 62f, 63	5, 9
16	15, 17f, 18, 19f	3	Bradyrhizobium sp.	96.0	546.24	5.2	121.29	122.9
17	1, 2, 3, 6f, 7	1	Bradyrhizobium sp.	76.4	438.13	4.3	91.59	100.9
18	4f, 5	1	Bradyrhizobium sp.	68.3	532.74	5.6	136.66	130.9
19	64, 65, 66, 67	10	Bradyrhizobium sp.	37.6	138.28	1.6	29.69	35.0
20	59	9	Rhizobium sp.	37.4	310.11	2.9	53.69	70.4
21	70	10	Bradyrhizobium sp.	38.0	161.78	1.5	32.01	34.9
22	86, 90, 91	13	Rhizobium sp.	17.1	86.63	1.1	16.56	25.9
23	55	8	Rhizobium sp.	11.4	55.44	0.9	10.98	21.2
24	73	11	Rhizobium sp.	23.6	63.90	0.9	12.94	21.6
25	78, 79, 80	12	Bradyrhizobium sp.	6.5	42.02	0.8	8.32	18.6
26	50	8	Rhizobium sp.	5.5	18.93	0.8	5.76	20.5
27	76, 77	11	Bradyrhizobium sp.	25.0	120.43	1.8	27.65	42.3
28	75	11	Rhizobium sp.	16.1	53.29	0.8	13.35	19.3
29	42	6	Rhizobium sp.	64.3	488.68	3.8	107.68	88.9
30	69, 92	10, 14	Rhizobium sp.	26.7	116.13	1.5	30.61	33.8
31	93	14	Rhizobium sp.	12.5	39.39	0.8	8.12	18.3
32	94, 100	14, 15	Rhizobium sp.	10.4	33.99	1.0	12.40	23.8
33	8	2	Agrobacterium sp.	38.3	241.22	2.7	40.80	64.0
34	9, 11	2	Bradyrhizobium sp.	21.2	105.63	1.5	20.96	34.9
35	14	2	Bradyrhizobium sp.	10.0	27.53	1.1	9.20	24.3
36	44	7	Bradyrhizobium sp.	9.8	19.71	0.7	4.74	17.2
37	71, 72, 74	11	Bradyrhizobium sp.	21.2	83.10	1.4	17.88	32.7
38	43, 45	7	Bradyrhizobium sp.	19.4	48.37	0.9	9.18	20.8
39	36	6	Rhizobium sp.	9.4	29.68	0.8	7.19	19.1
40	96	14	Bradyrhizobium sp.	10.3	41.55	0.9	13.87	22.2
41	99	15	Rhizobium sp.	31.4	70.24	1.0	13.14	23.3
Reference strains
USDA 110		USA	B. diazoefficiens	61.5	408.81	5.4	140.20	127.9
SEMIA 587		Brazil	B. elkanii	59.8	265.06	3.9	84.60	93.9
SEMIA 5019		Brazil	B. elkanii	56.4	513.58	5.0	119.28	118.8
SEMIA 5079		Brazil	B. japonicum	73.4	350.91	3.4	89.16	81.5
SEMIA 5080		Brazil	B. diazoefficiens	81.6	391.29	3.7	77.31	86.4

^aPhylogenetic cluster as defined by BOX-PCR analysis (Fig. 1).

^bSampling sites: 1–Ntengo₁; 2–Ntengo₂; 3–Ntengo₃; 4–Khame₁; 5–Khame₂; 6–Khame₃; 7–Ruace₁; 8–Ruace_2; 9–Mutequelesse; 10–Muriaze₁; 11–Muriaze₂; 12–Sussundenga₁; 13–Sussundenga₂; 14–Zembe₁; 15–Zembe₂.

^cBased on the 16S rRNA gene analysis (Fig. 2, Fig. 3).

^dValues of each isolate represent the average of four replications.

^eExpressed as the percentage of shoot dry weight of plants supplied with N (Control + N).

^fIsolates selected for the second greenhouse trial.