Boosting resource use efficiency, soil fertility, food security, ecosystem services, and climate resilience with legume intercropping: a review

Adopting sustainable agricultural practices that enhance productivity while preserving ecosystem services is essential to ensure food security for a growing global population and address environmental challenges. This review examines the impact of legume intercropping on nitrogen (N) fixation, soil physio-chemical properties, water retention, pest and disease control, and crop yield across diverse agro-climatic zones and cropping systems. The findings consistently demonstrate that integrating legumes into the cropping system improves soil health by reducing bulk density, breaking up hardpan layers, reducing erosion, increasing soil organic matter, and fixing atmospheric nitrogen (~125 kg N/ha/season) reducing…

• IC
  Indian Council of Agricultural Research
• BH
  Banaras Hindu University