Table Of ContentRam Swaroop Meena · Anup Das
Gulab Singh Yadav · Rattan Lal Editors
Legumes for
Soil Health and
Sustainable
Management
Legumes for Soil Health and Sustainable
Management
Ram Swaroop Meena • Anup Das
Gulab Singh Yadav • Rattan Lal
Editors
Legumes for Soil Health
and Sustainable
Management
Editors
Ram Swaroop Meena Anup Das
Department of Agronomy Division of Crop Production
Institute of Agricultural Sciences (BHU) ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region
Varanasi, UP, India Umiam, India
Gulab Singh Yadav Rattan Lal
Division of Crop Production Carbon Management and Sequestration
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region Center, SENR/FAES
Lembucherra, India The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH, USA
ISBN 978-981-13-0252-7 ISBN 978-981-13-0253-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0253-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018945195
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Contents
1 Legumes and Sustainable Use of Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Ram Swaroop Meena and Rattan Lal
2 Cereal-Legume Cropping System in Indian Himalayan
Region for Food and Environmental Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Anup Das, M. Thoithoi Devi, Subhash Babu, Meraj Ansari,
Jayanta Layek, S. N. Bhowmick, Gulab Singh Yadav,
and Raghavendra Singh
3 Grain Legumes for Resource Conservation and Agricultural
Sustainability in South Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Narendra Kumar, K. K. Hazra, C. P. Nath, C. S. Praharaj,
and U. Singh
4 Role of Legumes in Soil Carbon Sequestration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Sandeep Kumar, Ram Swaroop Meena, Rattan Lal,
Gulab Singh Yadav, Tarik Mitran, Babu Lal Meena,
Mohan Lal Dotaniya, and Ayman EL-Sabagh
5 Perennial and Intercrop Legumes as Energy Crops
for Biogas Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
P. Walter Stinner, Arno Deuker, Tina Schmalfuß, Christopher Brock,
Nadja Rensberg, Velina Denysenko, Paul Trainer, Kurt Möller,
Joachim Zang, Leandro Janke, Wilson Mozena Leandro,
Katja Oehmichen, Denny Popp, and Jaqueline Daniel-Gromke
6 Symbiotic Tripartism in the Model Plant Family of Legumes
and Soil Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Vinod Vijayakumar
7 Rhizobium-Legume Symbioses: Heavy Metal Effects and Principal
Approaches for Bioremediation of Contaminated Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Sara Lebrazi and Kawtar Fikri-Benbrahim
8 Harnessing Soil Rhizobacteria for Improving Drought
Resilience in Legumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Parvaze A. Sofi, Zahoor A. Baba, Burhan Hamid,
and Ram Swaroop Meena
v
vi Contents
9 Nitrogen and Legumes: A Meta-analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
S. K. Kakraliya, Ummed Singh, Abhishek Bohra, K. K. Choudhary,
Sandeep Kumar, Ram Swaroop Meena, and M. L. Jat
10 Leguminous Trees an Innovative Tool for Soil Sustainability . . . . . . . 315
M. K. Jhariya, A. Banerjee, D. K. Yadav, and A. Raj
11 Cereal+Legume Intercropping: An Option for Improving
Productivity and Sustaining Soil Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Jayanta Layek, Anup Das, Tarik Mitran, Chaitanyaprasad Nath,
Ram Swaroop Meena, Gulab Singh Yadav, B. G. Shivakumar,
Sandeep Kumar, and Rattan Lal
12 Legume Green Manuring: An Option for Soil Sustainability . . . . . . . 387
B. L. Meena, R. K. Fagodiya, K. Prajapat, M. L. Dotaniya,
M. J. Kaledhonkar, P. C. Sharma, Ram Swaroop Meena,
Tarik Mitran, and Sandeep Kumar
13 Legume Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPRs):
Role in Soil Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
R. Sammauria and S. Kumawat
14 Biofertilizers: A Sustainable Approach for Pulse Production . . . . . . . 445
Subrata Nath Bhowmik and Anup Das
15 Role of Soil Phosphorus on Legume Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
Tarik Mitran, Ram Swaroop Meena, Rattan Lal, Jayanta Layek,
Sandeep Kumar, and Rahul Datta
16 Grain Legumes: Impact on Soil Health and Agroecosystem . . . . . . . 511
Nirmali Gogoi, Kushal Kumar Baruah, and Ram Swaroop Meena
About the Editors
Dr. Ram Swaroop Meena is born in a farmer’s family
in VOP. Harsana, Teh. Laxmangarh, Dist. Alwar,
Rajasthan, India, on May 19, 1977. Dr. Meena had his
schooling in the same village and graduated in
Agriculture in 2003 from the Sri Karan Narendra
Agriculture University, Jobner, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Dr.
Meena has obtained his master’s and the doctorate
degrees in Agronomy from the Swami Keshwanand
Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner (Rajasthan),
and securing first division in all the classes with triple
NET, JRF, and SRF from the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research, and RGNF award from the
University Grants Commission. Dr. Meena has been
awarded the Raman Fellowship from MHRD, GOI. He
has completed his postdoctoral research on the soil car-
bon sequestration under Prof. Rattan Lal, Distinguished
Scientist and Director, Carbon Management and
Sequestration Center, Ohio State University, USA. He
is working on soil sustainability, crop productivity, and
resources use efficiency, under the current climatic era.
Dr. Meena has supervised 17 PG and 4 Ph.D. students,
and he has 8 years research and teaching experience at
UG/PG/Ph.D. levels. He is working externally funded 3
running projects including DST (GOI), and involves
many academic and administrative activities going on at
institute/university level. Dr. Meena has published more
than 90 research and review papers in peer-reviewed
reputed journals, and contributed in the edited books
with 25 book chapters at national and international lev-
els. He has published 3 books on the national and
another 3 on the international level. He has worked as
an expert in the NCERT and MHRD, GOI, to develop 2
books for school education at XI and XII standards. Dr.
Meena has received several awards, viz., Young
vii
viii About the Editors
Scientist, Young Faculty, Global Research, Excellence
in Research, Honourable Faculty Award, etc. Dr. Meena
is a member of 9 reputed national and international
societies, and is working as a general secretary, editor,
member of editorial boards in twelve national, interna-
tional peer-reviewed reputed journals, and attended sev-
eral national and international conferences in the
country and abroad. Dr. Meena is contributing to the
agricultural extension activates on farmers’ level as
associate coordinator in trainings, meetings, work-
shops, and farmers fair.
Dr. Anup Das Principal Scientist (Agronomy) and
Head, Division of Crop Production, Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR), Research Complex for
North Eastern Hill Region, Umiam, Meghalaya, has
obtained his Master’s degree from Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University, Coimbatore, and Ph.D. from
Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New
Delhi. He has undergone special attachment research
training on “Conservation agriculture for soil carbon
sequestration” under Prof. Rattan Lal, Distinguished
Scientist and Director, Carbon Management and
Sequestration Center, Ohio State University, USA. Under
SAARC-ACIAR programme, Dr. Das was trained on
simulation modeling studies for enhancing crop and
water productivity of rice-based cropping system in
South Asia. During his 15 years’ research career, Dr.
Das has handled 15 externally funded projects, includ-
ing Agricultural Model Intercomparison and
Improvement Project (AgMIP), National Agricultural
Innovation Project (NAIP), National Mission on
Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem, Task Force-6, Lal
Bahadur Shastri Young Scientist Award challenge proj-
ect (ICAR), Farmers Participatory Action Research
Programme (FPARP), Network Project on Climate
Change (NPCC), National Initiative on Climate Resilient
Agriculture (NICRA), etc., and 12 institutional projects
as Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator, etc.
Dr. Das has 4 years postgraduate teaching experience in
College of Post-Graduate Studies (CPGS), Central
Agricultural University (CAU), Umiam, Meghalaya,
and guided and co-guided 17 masters and one Ph.D. stu-
dent of CPGS, Umiam, and IARI, New Delhi. He is also
involved in teaching program of three certificate courses
About the Editors ix
on Organic Farming, Integrated Watershed Management,
and Water Harvesting and Management of Indira Gandhi
National Open University. He has in his credit 115
research papers, 15 books, 27 technical bulletins, and 52
book chapters. He is reviewer and editor of about 25
national and international journals. Dr. Das is also mem-
ber of National Level Monitoring Team of National
Food Security Mission, member of monitoring team of
NICRA activities in Krishi Vigyan Kendra, and member
secretary, NMSHE Task Force-6 activities in North East
India. Dr. Anup Das is presently the Secretary, Indian
Association of Hill Farming and Chief Editor of
Innovative Farming – an international quarterly open
access journal. He is recipient of many national awards
and recognitions like NAAS Associate Fellow, Lal
Bahadur Shastri Outstanding Young Scientist Award,
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Outstanding Extension
Scientist Award, Outstanding Interdisciplinary Team
Research Award, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Award for con-
tribution to tribal farming system, Dr. HK Jain-CAU
Award for excellence in agricultural research in north
eastern states, and Dr. KG Tejwani Award for natural
resource management, among others.
Dr. Gulab Singh Yadav is born in a farmer’s family on
July 1, 1982, at village-A mlonipur, Bareilly, Uttar
Pradesh, India. He has obtained B.Sc. (Ag.) Honours
from the Chandra Shekhar Azad University of
Agriculture and Technology Kanpur, UP, India, M.Sc.
(Ag) Agronomy and Ph.D. (Agronomy) from Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi,
India, with first division and recipient of UP Rajaya
Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad Scholarship, JRF and
SRF-ICAR, B.Sc. (Ag.) Honours, M.Sc. (Ag)
Agronomy, and Ph.D. (Agronomy), respectively. He
had completed the postdoctoral research under the
supervision of Prof. Rattan Lal, a renowned soil scien-
tist from Carbon Management and Sequestration
Center, Ohio State University, USA. Dr. Yadav has
joined prestigious Agricultural Research Service
(ARS)-ICAR, Government of India, on April 27, 2011
and presently serving as a Scientist (Agronomy) at
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),
Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region,
Tripura Centre, Lembucherra, West Tripura, India.
x About the Editors
During his 7 years research career, Dr. Yadav has
involved in 6 externally funded projects, including
National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP),
National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem,
Task Force 6, National Initiative on Climate Resilient
Agriculture (NICRA), etc., and 4 institutional projects
as Principal and Co-Principal Investigator. He has in his
credit more than 50 research papers in international and
national journals and several technical bulletins, book
chapters, review, and popular articles. He is reviewer of
about 10 national and international journals. He is
recipient of best Research Scientist Award–2016 of
ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region,
Tripura Centre, West Tripura, India, and DBT
Associate–2016, Government of India. He is also a
recipient of prestigious D.N. Borthakur Award (team
award) for farming system research in North East India.
Presently, he is a life member of several professional
scientific societies.
Dr. Rattan Lal is a Distinguished University Professor
of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management
and Sequestration Center, the Ohio State University,
and an Adjunct Professor of University of Iceland. With
completion of education from Punjab Agricultural
University, Ludhiana (B.Sc, 1963), Indian Agricultural
Research Institute, New Delhi (M.Sc, 1965), and the
Ohio State University, Columbus (Ph.D, 1968), he
served as Sr. Research Fellow with the University of
Sydney, Australia (1968–1969), Soil Physicist at IITA,
Ibadan, Nigeria (1969–1987), and Professor of Soil
Science at OSU (1987–to date). His current research
focus is on climate-resilient agriculture, soil carbon
sequestration, sustainable intensification, enhancing
use efficiency of agroecosystems, and sustainable man-
agement of soil resources of the tropics. He is a fellow
of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA, 1985),
Soil Science Society of America (SSSA, 1986), Third
World Academy of Sciences (1992), American
Association for the Advancement of Sciences (1996),
Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS, 1997),
Indian Natl. Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1998),
and Rothamsted, UK (2013). He received the Hugh
Hammond Bennett Award of the SWCS, 2005; Borlaug
Award (2005) and Liebig Award (2006) of the
