Ming Li , Fumin Gao

Tropical Microbial Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Legume Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 3   
Received: 22 Mar., 2025    Accepted: 08 May, 2025    Published: 26 May, 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Leguminous crops form a unique symbiotic system with soil microorganisms (especially nitrogen-fixing rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi), which plays an important role in agricultural ecosystems. This study reviews the biological basis of leguminous crop-microorganism symbiosis and its significance to soil microecology and agricultural sustainable development, introduces the mechanism of symbiotic nitrogen fixation, discusses how leguminous crops promote soil microecological balance by increasing soil organic matter, improving soil enzyme activity and improving soil physical and chemical properties, and explains the supporting role of microbial symbiosis on nutrient absorption and stress resistance of leguminous plants, such as improving nitrogen fixation efficiency, enhancing plant drought and salt tolerance, inducing plant immunity and biological control potential. Furthermore, from the perspective of ecological benefits, the contribution of leguminous-microorganism symbiosis in reducing fertilizer dependence and greenhouse gas emissions, restoring degraded soil functions and enhancing the stability of agricultural ecosystems is analyzed, and illustrated by cases such as soybean-rhizobium, peanut inoculants and leguminous rotation. This study hopes to provide a theoretical basis and practical reference for the role of leguminous crops and soil microbial symbiosis in sustainable agriculture.

Legume crops; Soil microorganisms; Symbiotic nitrogen fixation; Ecological benefits; Sustainable agriculture