Introduction : The work reported here was carried out under the auspi-ces of National Oilseeds Development Programme supported by the Research Branch, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Water Development, Government of the Republic of Zambia, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In the 1977-78 season, the couunercially grown soybean variety 'Hernon 147' was noticed to have nodulated profusely in a virgin land, without artificial seed inoculation. This was in the Mkushi area where soybean production then had just begun to expand.