Winged bean - A nutritionally rich underutilized vegetable crop

Abstract

Winged bean [Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC] is a protein rich, underexploited leguminous vegetable of the tropics. Winged bean grows abundantly in hot and humid equatorial countries. In Asia, the major producing countries are India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indo-China, China and is also extending to Papua & New Guinea. It has high nitrogen fixing capacity with multiple nodules present in the root system and the leaves contains superior quality of protein. This underutilized vegetable has an ability to fight malnutrition and provide dietary supplementation. A considerable amount of diversity exists in the germplasm lines of winged bean, thus providing scope for the plant breeders to seek for improvement of the seed, vegetable, tuber yield and quality aspects. This promising vegetable offers resistance towards the adverse impact of abiotic stresses and can withstand marginal upland conditions. It can be introduced in the marginal upland areas as a source of income, especially for resourcepoor households in these regions. It has been observed that proteins present in legumes have low nutritive value, which is mainly attributed to low amounts of sulphur-containing amino acids, less digestible proteins and anti-nutritional factors. Thus, winged bean is recommended for commercial cultivation to enhance diversity in field conditions and improve soil health. When it reaches the plate of hungry people, it leads to improvement in human health and consequently helps in solving the malnutrition problems.