Articles
Improving winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) productivity: an analysis of the determinants of productivity
Article number
1102_9
Pages
83 – 88
Language
English
Abstract
The world today depends mainly on a few crop species to provide global food calories.
Exploiting the large reservoir of minor and underutilized crop plants could provide a more diversified agricultural system and the food sources necessary to address food and nutritional security concerns.
Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) is an underutilized food legume cultivated mainly in Asia and the Pacific.
It is a multipurpose crop used as a vegetable, a pulse and for tubers.
Each part of the plant is edible and each contains a different nutritional composition; leaves and pods, commonly used as a vegetable, are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and fiber, the seed are high in protein and the tuber provides a rich source of carbohydrate.
The crop could provide a balanced diet to address dietary imbalances facing the world today.
Like most underutilised crops, winged bean is at least partly constrained by the lack of improved cultivars and low productivity.
The present study evaluated yields and yield-related attributes of 24 contrasting winged bean accessions from Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Liberia.
Significant differences (PKLEINERDAN0.05) were observed between accessions for all the characters studied.
Some accessions showed agronomic potential and could form the basis for selection of parents to be used in future breeding programmes.
The abundances of foliar mineral nutrients were investigated for association with yield and yield-related characters to evaluate whether nutrient element levels could potentially be used as selection criteria for productivity.
Improving winged bean productivity could enhance nutritional security and sustained livelihoods.
Exploiting the large reservoir of minor and underutilized crop plants could provide a more diversified agricultural system and the food sources necessary to address food and nutritional security concerns.
Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) is an underutilized food legume cultivated mainly in Asia and the Pacific.
It is a multipurpose crop used as a vegetable, a pulse and for tubers.
Each part of the plant is edible and each contains a different nutritional composition; leaves and pods, commonly used as a vegetable, are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and fiber, the seed are high in protein and the tuber provides a rich source of carbohydrate.
The crop could provide a balanced diet to address dietary imbalances facing the world today.
Like most underutilised crops, winged bean is at least partly constrained by the lack of improved cultivars and low productivity.
The present study evaluated yields and yield-related attributes of 24 contrasting winged bean accessions from Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Liberia.
Significant differences (PKLEINERDAN0.05) were observed between accessions for all the characters studied.
Some accessions showed agronomic potential and could form the basis for selection of parents to be used in future breeding programmes.
The abundances of foliar mineral nutrients were investigated for association with yield and yield-related characters to evaluate whether nutrient element levels could potentially be used as selection criteria for productivity.
Improving winged bean productivity could enhance nutritional security and sustained livelihoods.
Authors
Q.N. Wong, F. Massawe, S. Mayes
Keywords
winged bean, Psophocarpus tetragonolobus, underutilised, harvest index, days to 50% flowering
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