Table 9.
The relative contributions by various geographic regions to total global grain harvested for widely grown grain legumes in 2019, the mean regional estimates of the percentage of legume N derived from atmospheric N2 (%Ndfa) and amounts of shoot N fixeda.
| Legume speciesb | Geographic region contribution | Mean Ndfa | Amount shoot N fixed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (% global grain production)b | (%) | (kg N ha-1 crop-1) | ||
| Soybean 120.5 Mha, 333.7 Mt |
South America (55%)c North America (31%)d East Asia (5%) South Asia (4%) Europe (3%) South-East Asia (1%) Africa (1%) |
72 62 55 56 44 67 56 |
177 157 76 114 128 119 78 |
|
| Groundnut 29.6 Mha, 48.8 Mt |
East Asia (36%)e Africa (34%) South Asia (14%) Americas (10%) South-East Asia (6%) |
61 57 66 68 62 |
101 62 91 103 121 |
|
| Green & black gram 18.2 Mha, 14.5 Mt |
South-East Asia (41%) South Asia (37%) East Asia (21%)e Oceania (1%) |
59 61 54 41 |
65 45 50 41 |
|
| Common bean 14.9 Mha, 14.4 Mt |
Africa (49%) South America (30%) North America (19%) Europe (2%) |
36 39 37 39 |
29 35 36 60 |
|
| Cowpea 14.5 M ha, 8.9 Mt |
Africa (97%) Asia (2%) Americas (1%) |
62 50 52 |
47 25 39 |
|
| Chickpea 13.7 Mha, 14.3 Mt |
South Asia (73%) West Asia (10%) North America (6%) Africa (5%)e Europe (4%) Oceania (2%) |
78 58 55 62 68 58 |
51 41 64 56 54 69 |
|
| Field pea 7.3 Mha, 14.2 Mt |
Europe (37%) North America (37%) Asia (18%) Africa (4%)e South America (2%) Oceania (2%) |
68 56 61 64 73 62 |
118 81 120 95 197 80 |
|
| Pigeon pea 5.6 Mha, 4.4 Mt |
South Asia (75%) Africa (15%) South-East Asia (8%)e Americas (2%)e |
67 87 77 77 |
123 60 92 92 |
|
| Lentil 4.8 Mha, 5.7 Mt |
North America (42%) South Asia (30%) Oceania (9%) West Asia (8%) South America (3%)e Africa (3%) East Asia (3%)e Europe (2%) |
63 67 66 66 63 54 63 60 |
70 50 91 86 83 130 83 68 |
|
| Faba bean 2.6 Mha, 5.4 Mt |
East Asia (32%) Europe (29%) Africa (27%)e Oceania (6%) North America (4%) West & South Asia (2%) |
62 77 71 73 74 78 |
221 137 148 130 103 151 |
|
| Lupin 0.9 Mha, 1.0 Mt |
Oceania (47%) Europe (39%) Africa (8%)e South America (6%) |
67 73 69 68 |
121 151 130 118 |
|
| Vetch 0.4 Mha, 0.8 Mt |
Africa (43%)e Europe (31%) Americas (13%) Asia (12%) Oceania (1%) |
69 64 75 63 58 |
81 59 45 136 82 |
|
| Bambara groundnut 0.4 Mha, 0.2 Mt |
Africa (100%) | 56 | 48 | |
Calculated from 5374 experimental and on-farm estimates of BNF collated from the 328 publications and unpublished sources cited by Peoples et al. (2021).
Production data reported by FAOSTAT (2021) for 2019 rounded to closest whole percentage number.
Weighted mean estimate of %Ndfa for South America was derived from BNF data reported for Brazil (34% of total global production, average %Ndfa = 78) and Argentina (17% of production, average %Ndfa = 63). For the sake of the calculation, it was assumed the remaining 4% of global production from South American countries where no BNF field data were available had the same %Ndfa as Argentina. Average amounts of shoot N fixed in Brazil and Argentina were calculated to be very similar (178 and 176 kg N ha-1; respectively).
Calculated for USA experimental soybean trials undertaken between 2000 and 2017.
Where no regional data were available the presented values represent the species global average.