They are one of the easier legumes to digest and fetch a higher crop price than Australian wheat, yet mung beans are not mainstream in the western world. But, while the vigna radiata has been nourishing populations across India and Asia for millennia, in recent decades enterprising scientists have started investigating the legume’s potential to improve food security and farmers’ incomes.
Since its inception 50 years ago, the World Vegetable Centre (also known as WorldVeg) in Taiwan has collected more than 8,000 “accessions”, or varieties, of mung bean seeds, genebank manager, Dr Maarten van Zonneveld, says. Much like other species, such as humans and dogs, plants – including mung beans – need genetic diversity to create robust offspring. Diversity also enables selective crossing of different varieties to create new lines with desirable traits.
