Discuss giving examples, the statement - ' Legumes fertilize the soil but cereals do not. '

Legumes fertilize the soil by enhancing the nitrogen supplying power of cell, increasing the reserve of organic material in soil and increasing soil aeration. Legumes are nitrogen fixing plants and they fix atmospheric nitrogen by association of symbiotic bacteria with them. Considerable amount of nitrogen is leaked from the roots of legume’s nodules into soil and the crop residues have higher nitrogen content and also breaks down more easily than cereal straws thereby increasing the fertilizing the soil.