Advances in Legumes for Sustainable Intensification

Dr. Meena was born into a farming family and is working in the Department of Agronomy at IAS, BHU, Varanasi. With an excellent academic background, he has been elected a fellow of several academies, including the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), the National Academy of Biological Sciences (NABS), the Indian Society of Agronomy (ISA), and the Society for Rapeseed-Mustard Research (SRMR). The Ministry of Education has also awarded him the Raman Fellowship for the USA under World Food Prize Laureate Prof. Rattan Lal, and he was an INSA visiting scientist at ISARC-IRRI. Additionally, he has been listed among the world's 2% of scientists for his career. He guided 8 PhD, 29 master’s and completed 10 externally funded projects from IRRI, IoE-BHU, SERB-DST, ICAR, MOE, and GOI. Dr. He has made significant research contributions to natural resource management and to farm and industrial waste recycling for soil health. Dr. Meena evaluates energy flow, atmospheric CO2 capture, carbon credit and auditing, and eco-friendly techniques for a sustainable food system and soil regeneration, as evidenced by high-impact publications and extension work at the farmer level. He has published extensively, with an H-index of 76, an I-10 index of 222, and 17,250 citations. His work is crucial for understanding the long-term stability of soil carbon, which enhances soil microbial and nutrient dynamics in rice-based diversified cropping systems. He trained farmers from the Deep Forest Tribe to adopt climate-smart practices to secure their livelihoods under the DST-SEED grant project. Dr. Meena has also contributed to the agricultural extension activities in the “Honourable Prime Minister of India” villages. His future work aims to reduce soil organic carbon oxidation and enhance its stability in agroecosystems, enabling farmers to benefit from carbon credits and generate additional income.Dr. Sandeep Kumar is currently working as a scientist (Agronomy) at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Karnal, India. His research interests have focused on enhancing resource use efficiencies for sustainable crop production. He has published extensively, received numerous national awards, including Young Scientist, Best Paper Awards, Best Research Scholar, and received Best Master’s Thesis awards.

• Section-I: Legumes for sustainable crop intensification1. Legume-Based Agroecosystem for Sustainable Intensification: An overview2. Scope for production of pulses in rice fallow lands in South Asia3. Sustainable intensification in cropping systems through inclusion of legumes4. Legumes for efficient utilization of summer fallow5. Efficient utilization of rice fallow through pulse cultivation6. Legumes for nutrient management in the cropping system7. Residual nitrogen for succeeding crops in legume-based cropping system8. Legumes for eco-friendly weed management in agroecosystemSection-II: Human and animal Health9. Grain legumes: A diversified diet for sustainable livelihood, food and nutritional security10. Recent strategies for pulse biofortification to combat human malnutrition11. Forage legumes for human, animals and environment12. Legumes for animal nutrition and dietary energySection-III: Soil health management13. Legumes protect the soil erosion and ecosystem services14. Sustainable management of land degradation through legume-based cropping system15. Legumes effect on nitrogen mineralization and microbial biomass potential in organic farming16. Legume based inter-cropping to achieve the crop, soil and environmental health security17. Soil carbon and legumes18. Role of legumes in phytoremediation of heavy metalsSection-IV: Agroecosystems Management 19. Legumes for Agroecosystem Services and Sustainability20. Potential of legume-based cropping systems for climate change adaptation and mitigation21. Legumes to reduce ecological footprints for climate-smart cropping systems22. Environmental footprints of legumes-based agroecosystems for sustainable development23. Legumes for efficient utilization of summer fallow24. Potential of tree legumes in agroforestry systems and soil conservation25. Leguminous trees for sustainable tropical agroforestrySection-V: Crop Improvement26. Grain legumes: Recent advances and technological interventions27. Current trends in genetic enhancement of legumes in the genomics era for a sustainable future28. Conventional, genomics and post-genomics era of pulses breeding: Current Status and prospects29. Participatory breeding for improving legume landraces in small-scale farming30. Prospects for genome-wide selection for quantitative traits in legumesSection-VI: Economic importance31. Effect of legumes on nitrogen economy and budgeting in South Asia32. Pulses production, trade and policy imperatives: A global perspective33. Multiple pathways of legume-based systems towards environmental, social and economic sustainability in smallholder systems34. Legumes for improving socio-economic conditions of farmers in rainfed agroecosystem