Ask a Teacher

Search



How does leguminous plants help in maintaining soil fertility?
Legume plant and seed tissue is relatively high in protein. This can be directly attributed to a legume’s ability to supply most of its own nitrogen needs with the help of symbiotic.Nitrogen must first be chemically combined with other elements before plants can exploit it for growth. Microbes are the only living organisms that can make this transformation naturally and the most important of these is Rhizobium. This common soil bacterium enters the roots of legumes where it stimulates the plant to form nodules. Inside the nodule the plant switches on genes in the Rhizobium that enable it to convert nitrogen gas into nitrogenenous compounds. This process is called nitrogen fixation. The plant and the bacteria live in symbiotic harmony. The plant supplies Rhizobium with sugars and Rhizobium gives the plant soluble nitrogen.Different crops are grown in the same field which helps prevent soil erosion and controls the spread of soil-borne plant disease.  Leguminous plants will add nitrate to the soil which improves fertility.


comments powered by Disqus