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Rhizobia play a key role for performance of leguminous plants and ecosystem productivity. However, no studies to date have investigated the importance of the rhizobial symbiosis for legume–herbivore interactions. The additional nitrogen provided by the rhizobia improves the nutritional quality of plants, but may also be used for the synthesis of defence compounds. We performed greenhouse experiments with nodulating and non‐nodulating, as well as cyanogenic and acyanogenic strains of Trifolium repens to study the effects of rhizobia Rhizobium leguminosarum on plant growth and the performance of the chewing herbivore Spodoptera littoralis and the phloem‐sucking aphid Myzus persicae. We demonstrate that for nodulating strains of T. repens rhizobia increased plant growth and the performance of Spodoptera littoralis. However, this positive effect of rhizobia on the caterpillars did not occur in a cyanogenic …