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Nitrogen and Legumes: A Meta-analysis

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Title Nitrogen and Legumes: A Meta-analysis
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Creator S. K. Kakraliya
Ummed Singh
Abhishek Bohra
K. K. Choudhary
Sandeep Kumar
Ram Swaroop Meena
M. L. Jat
 
Subject Legumes’ effects on succeeding crops · Legumes mitigate GHGs · Nitrate leaching · N fixation · Residual N in soil
 
Description Not Available
The current progress in agricultural production does not really cater to the
demand of the burgeoning human population. Consequently, this puts global
food and nutritional security at a great risk. This challenge calls for concerted
efforts of all stakeholders to produce required quantity and quality of assured
foods for ensuring food security. In the past, the principal driving force was to
increase the yield potential of food crops and to maximize productivity. Today,
the drive for productivity is increasingly combined with a desire for sustainability.
For farming systems to remain productive and to be sustainable in the long
term, it will be necessary to replenish the reserves of nutrients which are removed
or lost from the soil. The nitrogen (N) inputs derived from atmospheric N via
biological N fixation (BNF). Therefore, current farming systems need sustainable
intensification through the inclusion of legume crops. This facilitates the
precise use of nitrogen (N) by reducing their losses into the environment and
ensures self-sufficiency in protein. The relevance of legumes in this context is
enhanced as these crops offer numerous amenities that remain in line with prevalent
sustainability principles. Legume crops provide protein-rich food, oil and
fibre while supplying the 195 Tg N year−1 (also includes actinorhizal species) to
the agroecosystem through the process of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF).
Besides serving as the fundamental global source of good-quality food and feed,
legume crops contribute to 15% of the N in an intercropped cereal and mitigate
the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by reducing the application demand of
synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers. Legume cultivation releases up to seven times
less GHGs per unit area than non-legume crops. Legumes allow the sequestration
of carbon (1.42 Mg C ha−1 year−1) in soils and induce the conservation of
fossil energy inputs in the system. The other benefits of legume crops include
their significant positive impacts on biodiversity and soil health. Rotating legume
crops with non-legume crops has the dual advantage of cultivating the legumes
with slight or no extra N fertilizer. Care should be taken to ensure the availability
of adequate N for the succeeding non-legume crops. The legume crops respond
very well to conservation of agricultural practices. Overall, these characteristics
are crucial to agriculture both in developing and developed countries apart from
the conventional farming systems. Legumes in rotation promote exploration of
nutrients by crops from different soil layers. They also help in reducing pressure
on soil created by monocropping. Thus, crop rotation acts like a biological pump
to recycle the nutrients. Hence, inclusion of legumes in the cropping system is
inevitable to advance soil sustainability and food and nutritional security without
compromising on the long-term soil fertility potential.
Not Available
 
Date 2019-05-16T09:10:14Z
2019-05-16T09:10:14Z
2018-07-01
 
Type Book chapter
 
Identifier Not Available
Not Available
http://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/handle/123456789/19624
 
Language English
 
Relation Not Available;
 
Publisher Springer