diff -r 6641e941ef1e -r ff1a9aa48cfd app/django/core/serializers/xml_serializer.py
--- a/app/django/core/serializers/xml_serializer.py	Tue Oct 14 12:36:55 2008 +0000
+++ b/app/django/core/serializers/xml_serializer.py	Tue Oct 14 16:00:59 2008 +0000
@@ -100,10 +100,11 @@
         serialized as references to the object's PK (i.e. the related *data*
         is not dumped, just the relation).
         """
-        self._start_relational_field(field)
-        for relobj in getattr(obj, field.name).iterator():
-            self.xml.addQuickElement("object", attrs={"pk" : smart_unicode(relobj._get_pk_val())})
-        self.xml.endElement("field")
+        if field.creates_table:
+            self._start_relational_field(field)
+            for relobj in getattr(obj, field.name).iterator():
+                self.xml.addQuickElement("object", attrs={"pk" : smart_unicode(relobj._get_pk_val())})
+            self.xml.endElement("field")
 
     def _start_relational_field(self, field):
         """