Summary
In contrast to the ubiquitous distribution of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria of the genusAzotobacter which can be encountered in all soils with suitable pH, the nitrogen-fixing bacteria of the genusBeijerinckia seem to be restricted to the tropics.
All attempts to isolateBeijerinckia from north-european soils have so far failed. The conditions underlying this peculiar phenomenon are not clearly understood. The selective action of low soil pH, low temperature, frost resistance, etc. cannot be responsible for the absence ofBeijerinckia from temperate zones.
In an earlier paper13 it was emphasized that the presence ofBeijerinckia is almost invariably connected with the occurrence of laterites, tropical Red Earths or latosols. As these soil types are almost restricted to the tropics, this may be the reason why the genusBeijerinckia is mainly confined to tropical regions.
It was also suggested in that paper thatBeijerinckia might also occur in lateritic soils — fossil or developed under particular climatic conditions — outside the tropics.
The present paper gives the first evidence of the occurrence ofBeijerinckia in lateritic soils outside the tropics in South Africa. ThereBeijerinckia occurs abundantly in the lateritic soils of the “Mistbelt”, but it occurs also — although more sporadically — in soils as far south as Cape Town (lat. 34° S.). Hence, non-symbiotic nitrogen fixation may occur in some of these soils which are too acid to containAzotobacter.
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Becking, J.H. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria of the genusBeijerinckia in South African soils. Plant Soil 11, 193–206 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01435152
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01435152