Pest profiling and varietal screening of winged bean (Psophocarpus 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. Insect and mites are the major biotic constraints to vegetables production in India. The crop losses to the tune of 30-40% have been reported from vegetable crops (Rai et al. 2014). Besides being pests, many of insects are beneficial serving aspollinatorsand natural enemies of the pests (parasitoids and predators). Although winged beanis a self-pollinated crop, but the role of the insect as pollinators also cannot be ruled out as Karikari (1972) observed exclusion of pollinating agents, by caging, resulted in significant yield reductions, and delayed fruit maturity. However, the insect pests associated with winged bean are reported from abroad. Shanthichandra et al. (1990) listed from Sri Lanka insect pests like Myllocerus curvicornis, Hypolixus truncatulus, Pagrialepida, Euproctis sciintillans, Dysdercus olivaceus, Riptortus pedestris etc.