Role of legumes in enhancing soil fertility: A sustainable approach to soil health and crop productivity

Abstract

Maintaining soil condition is essential to ensuring the sustainability of agriculture. Soil health and fertility are diminishing, which makes feeding the world's population one of the biggest concerns of our day. The integrity of the soil may be harmed by the incautious use of synthetic fertilizers. Furthermore, the manufacture of chemical fertilizers pollutes the environment because it is associated with the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. To enhance soil health and ease the adverse impacts of global warming, incorporating legumes into farming practices could be a valuable approach in light of global warming and climate change. Legumes are crops with several uses; they can be used to make grains high in protein, fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil by biological means and increase the number of helpful bacteria in the soil. A considerable section of the Indian population has both chronic energy shortage and protein energy malnutrition due to the high cost of most animal food products, which makes them unaffordable for the rural poor. The reliance on foreign fertilizer imports for food crop production is evident in statistics on food demand and fertilizer requirements. But in addition to providing the protein and energy that humans require, legume crops may also be crucial in boosting the amount of nitrogen produced locally. By excreting organic acids from their roots, many legumes not only improve soil fertility but also have the ability to solubilize phosphate that would otherwise be unavailable. The significance of promoting legumes in the framework of national food security is discussed in this review paper.