Abstract
Results of two pot experiments seeking improvement in nodulation of Stylosanthes through the incorporation of organic material in four selected Malaysian soil types are reported. With all four soil types in one experiment, farmyard manure significantly improved nodulation and yielded significantly more tops and roots than any other treatment studied. The addition of ' Algit ' (Norwegian Kelp Meal) produced larger plants and yielded a greater dry weight of shoot, significantly so in the Munchong and Malacca soil series, an observation which might be of practical value in securing increased dry matter production of stylosanthes fodder. The experiment showed Stylosanthes to nodulate freely without prior inoculation of the seed with an exotic or local Rhizobium strain both in soils where there had been leguminous covers and where the covers had been non-leguminous. Dry matter production by Pueraria was consistently high when seeds were inoculated and grown in soil previously not cropped with legumes, but was low on autoclaved soil despite inoculation.
