Mung Bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) Breeding

Abstract

Mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) is a fast-growing, warm-season pulse crop that is primarily cultivated in developing countries in Asia. This crop has been showing a steady increase in production worldwide. Mung bean represents a good source of protein and contains higher folate and iron levels than other legumes. Moreover, it has a short lifecycle and can fix atmospheric nitrogen through symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, making it ideal for intercropping with other major crops. Despite the importance of mung bean, there has been relatively little effort aimed at developing a breeding system for this crop, and genomic information is lacking compared to other legume species. Since mung bean has a small genome size, a short lifecycle, and is self-pollinating, it could be used as a model organism for studying legume plants. Moreover, the mung bean genome has recently been sequenced. The success of mung bean breeding depends on mining useful alleles from diverse germplasm and identifying markers closely associated with desirable phenotypes. The increasing affordability of high-throughput marker genotyping and the availability of a reference genome sequence will allow researchers and breeders to pinpoint the exact locations of genes and mutations that contribute to target phenotypes. Several research institutes and universities are currently constructing germplasm collections to maintain and secure mung bean genetic resources. Breeding via induced mutations and genetic engineering has helped improve mung bean cultivars, and genomic information from other well-studied legume species has been used to make up for the shortage of genomic information for mung bean. This chapter summarizes the current status of mung bean breeding, as well as genetic and genomic studies of this important crop.