The contributions of nitrogen-fixing crop legumes to the productivity of agricultural systems

Title
The contributions of nitrogen-fixing crop legumes to the productivity of agricultural systems
Publication Date
2009
Author(s)
Peoples, M B
Brockwell, J
Sampet, C
Rerkasem, B
Khan, DF
Hauggaard-Nielsen, H
Jensen, ES
Herridge, David
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0423-2517
Email: dherridg@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:dherridg
Rochester, IJ
Alves, BJR
Urquiaga, S
Boddey, RM
Dakora, FD
Bhattarai, S
Maskey, SL
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Place of publication
Netherlands
DOI
10.1007/BF03179980
UNE publication id
une:8273
Abstract
Data collated from around the world indicate that, for every tonne of shoot dry matter produced by crop legumes, the symbiotic relationship with rhizobia is responsible for fixing, on average on a whole plant basis (shoots and nodulated roots), the equivalent of 30–40 kg of nitrogen (N). Consequently, factors that directly influence legume growth (e.g. water and nutrient availability, disease incidence and pests) tend to be the main determinants of the amounts of N₂ fixed. However, practices that either limit the presence of effective rhizobia in the soil (no inoculation, poor inoculant quality), increase soil concentrations of nitrate (excessive tillage, extended fallows, fertilizer N), or enhance competition for soil mineral N (intercropping legumes with cereals) can also be critical. Much of the N₂ fixed by the legume is usually removed at harvest in high-protein seed so that the net residual contributions of fixed N to agricultural soils after the harvest of legume grain may be relatively small. Nonetheless, the inclusion of legumes in a cropping sequence generally improves the productivity of following crops. While some of these rotational effects may be associated with improvements in availability of N in soils, factors unrelated to N also play an important role. Recent results suggest that one such non-N benefit may be due to the impact on soil biology of hydrogen emitted from nodules as a by-product of N₂ fixation.
Link
Citation
Symbiosis, 48(1-3), p. 1-17
ISSN
1878-7665
0334-5114
Start page
1
End page
17

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