Livestock is an important sector of agriculture, but good quality forage is one of the major limiting factors for the growth of this industry. Studies were conducted to compare the forage quality of maize and legumes sown in pure stand and in mixture in randomized complete blocks during 2005 and 2006 at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. Maize (Zea mays L.) and three legumes [c...

The respiratory gene cox2, normally present in the mitochondrion, was previously shown to have been functionally transferred to the nucleus during flowering plant evolution, possibly during the diversification of legumes. To search for novel intermediate stages in the process of intracellular gene transfer and to assess the evolutionary timing and frequency of cox2 transfer, activation, and ina...

We measured aboveground plant biomass and soil inorganic nitrogen pools in a biodiversity experiment in northern Sweden, with plant species richness ranging from 1 to 12 species. In general, biomass increased and nitrate pools decreased with increasing species richness. Transgressive overyielding of mixed plant communities compared to the most productive of the corresponding monocultures occurr...

Eight forages (alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, red clover, bromegrass, orchardgrass, perennial ryegrass, quackgrass, and timothy) at three maturities were evaluated for ruminal DM, CP, and NDF degradation kinetics. Duplicate dacron bags were incubated for 0, 3, 6, 10, 13, 25, 48, and 72 h in two late lactation Holstein cows fitted with ruminal cannulas over eight experimental periods. Species and m...

Cultivation of legume plants is well known to improve soil N level and net primary productivity; besides, it may deliver other ecosystem benefits such as increasing soil carbon sequestration and soil food web complexity. However, little is known about whether legumes can improve the resistance of soils to ecosystem disturbances. In the present study, we compared the resistance of soils to an ec...

Rhizobia form specialized nodules on the roots of legumes (family Fabaceae) and fix nitrogen in exchange for carbon from the host plant. Although the majority of legumes form symbioses with members of genus Rhizobium and its relatives in class Alphaproteobacteria, some legumes, such as those in the large genus Mimosa, are nodulated predominantly by betaproteobacteria in the genera Burkholderia ...

Legumes are important for nitrogen cycling in the environment and agriculture due to the ability of nitrogen fixation by rhizobia. In this review, we introduce an important and potential role of legume-rhizobia symbiosis in aiding phytoremediation of some metal contaminated soils as various legumes have been found to be the dominant plant species in metal contaminated areas. Resistant rhizobia ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The wild progenitors of the Near Eastern legumes have low germination rates mediated by hardseededness. Hence it was argued that cultivation of these wild legumes would probably result in no yield gain. Based on the meagre natural yield of wild lentil and its poor germination, it was suggested that wild Near Eastern grain legumes were unlikely to have been adopted for cultiv...

Grain legumes convert atmospheric N2 to reactive N through symbiosis with N2-fixing rhizobia. Biological N2 fixation associated with legumes and the subsequent decomposition of legume residues are the primary processes that replenish N removed by harvest in agroecosystems without the addition of fertilizer N (Galloway et al., 1995, Peoples et al., 1995). Therefore, legumes are often included in...

We conducted an experiment to determine the effects of concentration and astringency of extractable and bound condensed tannins (CT) in tropical legumes on intake, digestibility, and nitrogen (N) utilization by sheep. The test legumes (Desmodium ovalifolium and Flemingia macrophylla) had similar concentrations of extractable CT (90 g/kg DM) but different concentrations of bound CT and astringen...