Inoculation: winged beans are not normally inoculated as nodulation occurs
naturally very readily, apparently with the Cowpea group of Rhizobia.
Intercropping: very common, with many different crops such as sweet potatoes,
sugar cane, taro, bananas, green vegetables and other legumes.
GROWTH CONDITIONS
Day length: short-day. In long days, ie outside the tropics, older varieties tend to
produce excessive vegetative growth and few flowers. Some recently developed
varieties are day neutral, and so will set seed in higher latitudes.
Growth period: plants of some varieties can survive and produce for five years or
more.
–pods—50–90 days for first pods, continuing for several weeks or months.
- seed—180–270 days. Some modern varieties mature in 110–120 days.
- tubers—120–240 days.
Temperature: winged beans require hot weather, with at least 180 frost-free days
from planting seed to harvesting mature pods. After a frost the plants of some
varieties will recover due to the large starchy tubers, provided these have not been
frosted.
In Asia, winged beans are mainly grown between 20N and 10 S.
Rainfall: if well distributed, 1500 mm per year is enough. Optimum is about 2500
mm or more per year. The crop is often irrigated, and does not tolerate long dry
periods.
mites and root-knot nematodes may cause some damage.
Diseases: also rarely a problem, though False Rust can be serious, in Papua New
Guinea for example. Crown Rot and Leaf Spot also may infect winged beans.
YIELD
Little information is available, so the following may not be completely realistic.
35 MT/ha were reported.
Ghana 820–1380 kg/ha; IITA, Nigeria 2400 kg/ha; Malaysia 4580 kg/ha.
Tubers—2.4–11 MT/ha, increased when the flowers are removed, and when grown
on hills (mounds) or when using varieties bred to produce tubers rather than pods
and grain.
° °
Altitude: 0–2100 m
in mixtures in small areas. Bean Fly, caterpillars, leafminers, grasshoppers, spider
Pests: rarely a problem, especially because winged beans are normally cultivated
Pods—harvested continuously over a long period. In trials in Malaysia more than
286 TONY WINCH
Seed (grain)—trial results: