Long Term Benefits of Legume Based Cropping Systems on Soil Health and Productivity. An Overview

Increasing land-use pressure and monoculture coupled with inadequate restorative practices pose threat to sustainability, nutrient uptake of crops often exceeds replenishment causing fertility deterioration. Imbalanced and indiscriminate use of fertilizers deteriorates soil health and factor productivity. Long-term impacts on soil nutrient stocks influence the sustainability of crop production are major gains of regular inclusions of legume in a cropping system. Inclusion of green gram in potato cultivation increased organic carbon and nutrients than non-legume based potato cropping systems. Legume-based cropping systems increased soil C and N stock than only cereal based cropping system. Maize intercropped with velvet-bean recorded higher productivity compared with pure maize and pure maize with mineral fertilizers. Bulk density of soil in glyricidia + maize system was lower compared to sole maize and maize grass fallow. Intercropping with glyricidia, glyricidia pruning incorporated into the soil optimized the cation exchange capacity in soil than sole maize system. Higher grain yield of finger millet and sustainable yield index were observed in green leaf manuring. Due to socioeconomic and environmental benefits, legumes could be introduced in cropping systems to reduce external inputs and increase crop diversity. They also found to perform well in conservation systems, intercropping systems, which are very important in developing nations. Legumes fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and aid in the cycle of soil nutrients and water retention. Because of their many uses, legumes have a lot of potential for conservation agriculture, as they can be used as a growing crop or as crop residue.