Two soybean cultivars, ‘Lee’ and ‘Peking’, were used to evaluate the competition and interaction of rhizobium strains PRC205 (R. fredii, fast-grower) and USDA110 (B. japonicum, slow-grower). Strains were inoculated separately on the root parts of a split-root growth system. Both root sides were inoculated simultaneously with four combinations of strain treatment to evaluate the competition of strains. And to evaluate the interaction of strains one side of split-root system was inoculated a week prior to the other side. Nodule mass and dry weight of the plants were measured 3 weeks after treatments. PRC205 showed no effective nodulation and no competing ability with USDA110 on Lee cultivar, however, contrary results on Peking cultivar. Top dry weight of Lee inoculated with PRC205 was much lower than that of any other inoculation treatments, however, in Peking that with PRC205 was higher than that with USDA110. There were no differences in root dry weight among the inoculation treatments. USDA110 used as primary inoculant suppressed nodule mass of opposite side, secondary inoculant, severely in both cultivars. PRC205 showed same tendency as USDA110 in Peking, but revealed little suppression effects on USDA110 used as secondary inoculant in Lee. USDA110 used as primary inoculant in Lee and PRC205 in Peking showed much more dry weight of soybean plants than that of other treatments.