MUNG BEAN, GREEN OR GOLDEN GRAM
Phaseolus aureus Roxb., family LeguminosaeAt one time the mung bean was a crop of considerable importance. Martin and Leonard (1949*) stated that in 1945 110,000 acres were grown in Oklahoma.
In 1967, when records on this crop were discontinued, 34,000 acres were harvested, yielding 400 pounds seed per acre, for which a price of only 0.06 cents per pound was obtained. Mung bean is an important crop in India where it rates as the most wholesome among the pulses. The beans are boiled and eaten whole, parched and ground into flour, eaten green as a vegetable, or used for bean sprouts (Yohe and Poehlman 1971). The crop is also grown for hay, green manure, and as a cover crop (Purseglove 1968*).
Plant:
The mung bean is an erect or suberect, deep-rooted, many-branched, rather hairy, annual herb 1 1/2 to 5 feet tall. The gray, black, or brownish pods, 2 to 4 inches long, may contain 10 to 15 small, round, usually green but sometimes yellow or blackish seed.
Inflorescence:
The inflorescence is an axillary raceme, with 10 to 25 pale-yellow flowers, 1 1/2 to 2 cm long, and clustered at the top. Pollen is shed the afternoon before the flower opens the following morning. The flower fades the same afternoon. Only about half of the flowers (64 percent) open to permit possible cross-pollination.
Pollination Requirements:
Purseglove stated, "The flowers are fully self-fertile when bagged and almost entirely self-pollinated." However, van Rheenen (1964) stated that when he alternated varieties in the row, he obtained 2.8 to 3 percent crossing.
Pollinators:
There seems to be no information on the pollinators involved.
Pollination Recommendations and Practices:
None.
LITERATURE CITED:
RHEENEN. H. A. VAN.
1964. PRELIMINARY STUDY OF NATURAL CROSS-FERTILIZATION IN MUNG BEAN, (PHASEOLUS AUREUS ROXB.). Netherlands Jour. Agr. Sci. 12(4): 260-262YOHE J. M., and POEHLMAN J. M.
1971. BREEDING MUNG BEANS, A FOOD GRAIN LEGUME IN INDIA. Agron. Abs. 1971, Ann. Mtg. Amer. Soc. Agron., p. 18.
