Improvement of Rhizobium inoculants by mutation, genetic engineering and formulation.

The use of mutation and genetic engineering techniques have resulted in Rhizobium strains with improved characteristics. The latter approach can provide improvement and new traits not achievable previously. Enhanced commercial Rhizobium inoculants, however, still rely solely on traditional approaches including formulation improvement, mutation, and strain selection. The lack of contribution to the commercial product lines by genetic engineering is mostly due to the time delay and financial burdens cast by the regulatory policies rather than a lack of progress in the application of modern genetic technologies. Such constraints may lessen in time as the public becomes more educated about the technologies and the subsequent political pressure decreases.