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The term legume has two closely related meanings in botany, a situation encountered with many botanical common names of useful plants whereby an applied name can refer to either the plant itself, or to the edible fruit (or useful part). Thus, "legume" can be:
A legume is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a "pod", although pod is also applied to a few other fruit types. Well-known plants that bear legume fruits include alfalfa, clover, pea, bean, and peanuts. A peanut is not a nut in the botanical sense; a peanut is an indehiscent legume, that is, one that does not spontaneously split open along a seam.

Legumes are noteworthy for their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, an accomplishment attributable to a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria known as rhizobia found in root nodules of these plants. The ability to form this symbiosis reduces fertilizer costs for farmers that grow legumes, and means that legumes can be used in a crop rotationGrowing the same crop repeatedly in the same place eventually depletes the soil of various nutrients. One way that farmers can avoid a decrease in soil fertility is to practice crop rotation by which different crops are planted in a regular sequence so th to replenish soil that has been depleted of nitrogenNitrogen is the chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol N and atomic number 7. A common normally colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic non-metal gas, nitrogen constitutes 78 percent of Earth's atmosphere and is a cons.

Legume seed and foliage has a comparatively higher proteinmyoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. This protein was the first to have its structure solved by X-ray crystallography by Max Perutz and Sir John Cowdery Kendrew in 1958, which led to them receiving a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. A protein is a complex, content that non-legume material, probably due to the additional nitrogen that legumes receive through nitrogen-fixation symbiosis. This high protein content makes them desirable crops in agricultureFarming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). Agriculture is also known as farming .. Farmed legumes fall into two classes: forageForage is the herbaceous plant material (mainly grasses and legumes) eaten by grazing animals. The major forage types: # Pasture # Range # Hay # Silage Forage can also be the nectar producing plants that are available for nectar gatherers, such as honeybe and grainThe word grain has a great many meanings, most being descriptive of a small piece or particle. For examples: a grain of sand or salt; see grain size for granule a grain is a type of simple dry fruit technically called a caryopsis . In agriculture, such cr. Forage legumes, like alfalfa, clover and vetchVetch or tare is a nitrogen fixing leguminous plant. Although considered a weed when found growing in a cultivated grainfield, this hardy plant is often grown as green manure or livestock fodder. Cultivation 1 When intended as fodder, the seed ought to be, are sown in pasture and grazed by livestock. Grain legumes are cultivated for their seeds. The seeds are used for human and animal consumption or for the production of oils for industrial uses. Grain legumes include beans, lentils, lupins, peas, peanuts and soybeans.




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