Winged bean

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Winged Bean Links

Species: Psophocarpus tetragonolobus

Varieties

A germplasm collection is held at the Department of Primary Industries research station at Biloela, Queensland. See Seedquest for a list of seed companies.

Production

Winged bean has an exceptionally high nitrogen-fixing capacity which may make it a useful legume for rotation with other crops (Kadam and Chavan 1998).

Climate: Winged bean is a tropical crop that grows well in the subtropics. Many cultivars are very sensitive to photoperiod, requiring a daylength of 11-13 hours (Kadam and Chavan 1998), but day neutral cultivars are used in Florida (Lamberts 1992). The plant will tolerate a wide range of altitudes (Anonymous 1998).

Temperature: Cold weather at the end of a season make the wings turn an unattractive brown (Lamberts 1992).

Soil type: The crop can be grown on any soil with good drainage (Kadam and Chavan 1998), but it cannot handle salinity (Anonymous 1998).

Plant density: Sow at 60 cm between plants, 60-120 cm between rows (Kadam and Chavan 1998).

Germination: Seeds have a hard coat and require scarificaiton by (1) scraping on a hard surface, (2) nicking the seed coat carefully with a knife or (3) placing in freshly boiled water and leaving for 8 hours. Plant 2-3 cm deep. Seed remains viable for around one year (Anonymous 1998).

Weeds: Weed control is necessary for the first 3-5 weeks

Nutrition: Nutrition information is scarce, though phosphate fertiliser appears to be good (Kadam and Chavan 1998).

Water: Grows well in drier areas if irrigated (Anonymous 1998).

Trellises: Support of the vine is essential for high seed production (Kadam and Chavan 1998) and nitrogen accumulation in all parts of the plant. A trellis height of 2 m is optimal (Motior et al. 1998). See the trellis page. No supports are needed for tuber production (Anonymous 1998).

Flowers: Removal of flowers increases the yield of tubers. Reproduction occurs at daylengths <12 hours and temperatures of 22-27°C (Kadam and Chavan 1998).

Harvest: Green pods can be harvested from about 10 weeks after sowing, for a number of months. 25 pods/vine/week is normal, giving a total yield of 5-20 t/ha (Kadam and Chavan 1998). Pods will cease forming if the plant is allowed to dry and mature. Tubers can be harvested 120-240 days after sowing when they are 3-5 x 8-13 cm in size (Anonymous 1998).

Yield: Around 2.7 t/ha (Lamberts 1992).

Postharvest

Temperature: 10°C (Welby and McGregor 1997).

Relative humidity: 90% (Welby and McGregor 1997).

Shelf life: 4 weeks (Welby and McGregor 1997).

Pests and diseases

Free from major pests and diseases (Kadam and Chavan 1998). Potential viruses are listed at Plant viruses online (Brunt et al. 1996). See Hawaiian pests & diseases.

Markets

(click here for exchange rates).

References

Anonymous (1998). The Winged Bean. In: Proceeding of the 1st International Symposium on Developing the Potentials of the Winged Bean, Philippine Council for Agricultural and Resources Research, Los Banos, pp 371-372.

Brunt, A.A., Crabtree, K., Dallwitz, M.J., Gibbs, A.J., Watson, L. and Zurcher, E.J. (eds.) (1996 onwards). `Plant Viruses Online: Descriptions and Lists from the VIDE Database. Version: 16th January 1997.'

Kadam, S. S. and Chavan, J. K. (1998). Other legumes. In: Handbook of vegetable science and technology: production, composition, storage and processing. (Ed; Salunkhe, D. K. and Kadam, S. S.). New York, Marcel Dekker 471-492.

Lamberts, M. (1992). Production trends for specialty Asian vegetables in Dade County, Florida. Acta Horticulturae 318: 79-85.

Motior, M. R., Mohamad, W. O. W., Wong, K. C. and Shamsuddin, Z. H. (1998). Nitrogen accumulation and partitioning by winged bean in response to support systems. Experimental Agriculture 34(1): 41-53.

Welby, E. M. and McGregor, B. (1997). Agricultural Export Transportation Handbook. USDA Agricultural Handbook 700, United States Department of Agriculture.