Pest profiling and varietal screening of winged bean (P. tetragonolobus) : A lesser known green vegetable and grain legume in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Winged bean [Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.], also known as or Goa bean, versatile legume or wonder legume, is an under-exploited, self-fertilizing tropical grain legume known for its multifarious usage. It is unique among leguminous crops in that, several parts of the plant - leaves, pods, seeds and tubers – are edible and rich in protein (Garcia and Palmer 1980). In winged bean, the protein content is 33.82% compared with 35% of soybean and have been suggested as a potential food source for the tropics (NAS 1981). It also contains edible oil (15-20%), Vitamin A (300-900 IU) and also rich in carbohydrate (Singh et al. 2013). Being a leguminous crop, it has shown that symbiosis of the plant and the Rhizobium which is highly promiscuous while in other legume it is highly specific.