Abstract
Urdbean [
Vigna mungo
(L.) Hepper], a legume crop that is grown in many parts of the world as a nutritious food source, is a potential alternative crop for the southern United States as a food and plant protein crop. This crop is similar to mungbean [
Vigna radiata
(L.) R. Wilczek], which is grown in Oklahoma, Kansas, California, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas, USA. However, urdbean is not produced in the United States. Our objective was to characterize urdbean production potential as an alternate crop for the southern United States. Results obtained from field trials with twelve genotypes—conducted during 2020, 2021, and 2022 in Petersburg, VA, USA—were very encouraging. The effects of genotypes were significant for seed yield, but not for 100 seed weights and concentrations of protein and fat. The effects of 3 production years were significant for all traits studied. The seed yield of 12 genotypes varied from 1048 to 2431 kg·ha
–1
(mean, 1789 kg·ha
–1
), whereas the 100 seed weight varied from 3.94 to 4.92 g (mean, 4.47 g). The mean concentrations of protein and fat in urdbean seeds averaged 23.9% and 0.98%, respectively. Our study, with limited germplasm, indicates that urdbean is a promising, new short-duration summer crop for the southern United States as a food and plant protein crop. This crop may also be profitable in double-cropping systems with winter cereal crops.