Fig. 2

Plant biomass and nutrition are affected by a combination of rhizobial inoculant and soil edaphic factors. A Inoculation with high-efficiency rhizobial strains WSM419 and WSM1022 lead to plants with a larger biomass and more-developed nodules. White arrowheads point to nodules. Plants were inoculated with rhizobia and grown in perlite pots for 5 weeks; whole plants and roots are shown; scale bar = 10 cm for plants and 2 cm for roots. B After 66 days, the soil, rhizosphere and endosphere of plants inoculated with rhizobial strains (or mock) grown in WG/WS/SP soil were harvested. Representative plant growth is shown; scale bar = 10 cm. C Boxplots of dry weight values for plants in B; letters denote significantly different values according to ANOVA and TukeyHSD, P < 0.05; see Supplementary Data S3 for plant dry weight values and statistical analysis (n = 32, 8 biological replicates, indicated with individual points, from 4 experimental replicates in different shades of grey)