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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Crop Biology and Sustainability
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1527256
This article is part of the Research Topic Integration of Legume Intercropping into Sustainable Farming Systems for Nitrogen Fixation, Soil Health, and Climate Resilience View all 4 articles

Boosting Resource Use Efficiency, Soil Fertility, Food Security, Ecosystem Services, and Climate Resilience with Legume Intercropping: A Review

Provisionally accepted
Acharya K Acharya K 1*Parasuraman P Parasuraman P 1*Kannan Pandiyan Kannan Pandiyan 1*Shanmugam Vijayakumar Shanmugam Vijayakumar 2*Thirukumaran K Thirukumaran K 1*Mohamed Roshan Abu Firnass M Mohamed Roshan Abu Firnass M 1Sudhir Kumar Rajpoot Sudhir Kumar Rajpoot 3*Anil K Choudhary Anil K Choudhary 4
  • 1 Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 2 Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
  • 3 Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
  • 4 Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR), Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    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 the need for inorganic N fertilizers. It boosts crop yields by 30-35% (in terms of main crop equivalent yield) and land productivity per unit area and time, mitigates total crop loss, and promotes biodiversity. It also improves water use efficiency by 20-25% and enhances nutrient use efficiency by 25-30%. Additionally, legume intercropping reduces yield losses from pests and diseases by 20-25% compared to sole cropping systems. The practice bolsters crop resilience through ecological processes like bio-littering, bio-ploughing, bio-irrigation, and biopumping (the "4Bs"), which are valuable for adapting to climate variability. However, research gaps remain, particularly in the optimal selection of legume species for specific regions, suitable agronomic practice for each system, and addressing socio-economic barriers to widespread adoption.

    Keywords: intercropping, nutrient cycling, resource utilization, Climate resilience, pulses

    Received: 13 Nov 2024; Accepted: 22 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 K, P, Pandiyan, Vijayakumar, K, M, Rajpoot and Choudhary. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Acharya K, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
    Parasuraman P, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
    Kannan Pandiyan, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
    Shanmugam Vijayakumar, Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
    Thirukumaran K, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
    Sudhir Kumar Rajpoot, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

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