Legumes, leguminous plant that belong to Fabaceae botanical Family (e.g. beans, peanuts, turnips, cloves) , are excellent for restoring the fertility of the soil as they can increase nitrogen soluble compounds within the soil.
They manage to do so because they can establish symbiotic relationships with nitrogen fixing bacteria present in its root nodules. These particular bacteria (e.g. cyanobacteria) can take atmospheric (gaseous) molecular nitrogen and fixed it. This means that these bacteria can transform gaseous nitrogen into a soluble compound that can be retained by water within soil and thus can be absorbed by plant roots.
