A. Importance of legumes Major plant sources of protein, oil. Performed biologically by nitrogen-fixing bacteria and cyanobacteria.
Legumes are the only important agricultural families that have synbiotic N-fixing bacteria.
Legume plants are mostly herbs, usually compound leaves, mostly annuals but some perennials. Flowers are irregular, bilaterally symmetrical, usually 10 stamens, one pistil of two carpels. No endosperm at maturity. D. Nitrogen fixation was discovered in legumes, due to symbiotic association of Rhizobium species of bacteria that inhabit nodules on roots. Today, strains of Rhizobium are sold to enhance agricultural productivity and is the subject of considerable research .