SUITABILITY OF RHIZOBIA-INOCULATED WILD LEGUMES ARGYROLOBIUM-FLACCIDUM, ASTRAGALUS-GRAVEOLENS, INDIGOFERA-GANGETICA AND LESPEDEZA-STENOCARPA IN PROVIDING A VEGETATIONAL COVER IN AN UNRECLAIMED LIMESTONE QUARRY

Several legume-Rhizobium associations were evaluated by sowing and bro adcast of seeds encapsulated with polyacrylamide-entrapped rhizobia (P ER) in an opencast limestone quarry in the outer ranges of the Himalay a. Four wild legumes, Lespedeza stenocarpa, Astragalus graveolens, Arg yrolobium flaccidum and Indigofera gangetica, with various rhizobial s trains, showed higher seedling establishment and survival as well as h igher biomass than controls (uninoculated treatments). All legumes est ablished without aftercare. Both A. flaccidum and L. stenocarpa flower ed and fruited and the self sown seeds of the experimental stands of t he latter species also germinated. Within four years following seeding , many non-legumes colonized the experimental site indicating the amel ioration of the derelict habitat. These results give evidence that nov el, suitable wild legume-Rhizobium associations are useful in providin g a vegetational cover in degraded lands, and that the ecological rest oration of limestone-mined sites are possible to some extent by artifi cial reconstruction. Nodulation in inoculated treatments only suggests that revegetation programmes involving legumes should also include th eir microsymbionts. Results also suggest that the encapsulation of see ds with PER is a suitable inoculation technology for the revegetation programmes.