Lablab purpureus—A Crop Lost for Africa?

Abstract

In recent years, so-called ‘lost crops’ have been appraised in a number of reviews, among them Lablab purpureus in the context of African vegetable species. This crop cannot truly be considered ‘lost’ because worldwide more than 150 common names are applied to it. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this paper aims to put forward four theses, (i) Lablab is one of the most diverse domesticated legume species and has multiple uses. Although its largest agro-morphological diversity occurs in South Asia, its origin appears to be Africa. (ii) Crop improvement in South Asia is based on limited genetic diversity. (iii) The restricted research and development performed in Africa focuses either on improving forage or soil properties mostly through one popular cultivar, Rongai, while the available diversity of lablab in Africa might be under threat of genetic erosion. (iv) Lablab is better adapted to drought than common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) or cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), both of which have been preferred to lablab in African agricultural production systems. Lablab might offer comparable opportunities for African agriculture in the view of global change. Its wide potential for adaptation throughout eastern and southern Africa is shown with a GIS (geographic information systems) approach.

Hybrid Specific Combining Ability in Relation to Parental General Combining Ability in Dolichos Bean (Lablab purpureus L.)

“…It is cultivated either as a pure crop or intercropped with finger millet, groundnut, castor, corn, pearl millet or sorghum. Despite its importance as a multi-purpose crop and ability to withstand drought better than common bean and cowpea (Maass et al, 2010), and adapt to acidic (Mugwira and Haque, 1993) and saline soils (Murphy and Colucci, 1999), Dolichos bean truly qualifies as 'underutilized' crop as evidenced by limited efforts for its genetic improvement.…”

Physical characteristics, proximate composition and anti-nutritional factors in grains of lablab bean (<i>Lablab purpureus</i>) genotypes from Kenya

“…The Lablab bean, (Lablab purpureus) also referred to as Dolichos lablab is one such legume. It belongs to a species of beans in the family Fabaceae that is native to Africa and was in existence in1500 BC (Maass et al, 2010). It is a drought tolerant legume, and is part of the staple foods for some communities in Africa and Asia (Kimani et al, 2012).…”

“…Apart from using the grain, the immature pods can be used as vegetable while the crop residue after harvest serves as manure (National Research Council, 2006). In Australia and other places it is used as a forage and feed crop (Abeke et al, 2008;Maass et al, 2010)Furthermore legume seeds have been reported to be useful in the prevention and management of common metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and coronary heart diseases (Mathers, 2002;Morris, 2003;Singhal, et al, 2014). The Lablab crop has been documented to exhibit diverse agro-morphological characteristics and to be one of the most versatile legumes in the tropics (Maass et al, 2010).…”

“…In Australia and other places it is used as a forage and feed crop (Abeke et al, 2008;Maass et al, 2010)Furthermore legume seeds have been reported to be useful in the prevention and management of common metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and coronary heart diseases (Mathers, 2002;Morris, 2003;Singhal, et al, 2014). The Lablab crop has been documented to exhibit diverse agro-morphological characteristics and to be one of the most versatile legumes in the tropics (Maass et al, 2010). It is one of the most drought tolerant legumes (Amole et al, 2013), with the ability to extract soil water from a depth of two metres even in heavy-textured soils (Cook et al, 2005;Muchow, 1985), hence its adaptability in arid and semi-arid areas.…”

“…Despite its importance in the food and farming systems, particularly among communities in arid and semiarid lands, the lablab bean has remained neglected and underutilized in many African countries, (National Research Council 2006). Indeed Maass et al, (2010) classified it among the lost crops of Africa. Though it has been reported to be of high nutritional value (Foyer et al, 2016;Hossain et al, 2016), it is of limited economic importance in the global market, consequently attracting minimal attention from researchers and the food industry (Foyer et al, 2016).…”