Green Mung Bean

Mung Beans

The mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) is a legume cultivated for its edible seeds and sprouts across Asia. There are 3 subgroups of Vigna radiata: one is cultivated (Vigna radiata subsp. radiata), and two are wild (Vigna radiata subsp. sublobata and Vigna radiata subsp. glabra). The mung bean plant is an annual, erect or semi-erect, reaching a height of 0.15-1.25 m. It is slightly hairy with a well-developed root system. Wild types tend to be prostrate while cultivated types are more erect. The stems are many-branched, sometimes twining at the tips. The leaves are alternate, trifoliolate with elliptical to ovate leaflets, 5-18 cm long x 3-15 cm broad. The flowers (4-30) are papilionaceous, pale yellow or greenish in colour. The pods are long, cylindrical, hairy and pending. They contain 7 to 20 small, ellipsoid or cube-shaped seeds. The seeds are variable in colour: they are usually green, but can also be yellow, olive, brown, purplish brown or black, mottled and/or ridged. Seed colours and the presence or absence of a rough layer are used to distinguish different types of mung bean. Cultivated types are generally green or golden and can be shiny or dull depending on the presence of a texture layer. Golden gram, which has yellow seeds, low seed yield and pods that shatter at maturity, is often grown for forage or green manure. Green gram has bright green seeds, is more prolific and ripens more uniformly, with a lower tendency for pods to shatter. In India, two other types of mung beans exist, one with black seeds and one with brown seeds. The mung bean resembles the black gram (Vigna mungo (L.)) with two main differences: the corolla of Vigna mungo is bright yellow while that of Vigna radiata is pale yellow; mung bean pods are pendulous whereas they are erect in black gram. Mung bean is slightly less hairy than a black gram. Mung bean is sown on lighter soils than a black gram.

The mung bean is a major edible legume seed in Asia (India, South East-Asia and East Asia) and is also eaten in Southern Europe and in the Southern USA. The mature seeds provide an invaluable source of digestible protein for humans in places where meat is lacking or where people are mostly vegetarian. Mung beans are cooked fresh or dry. They can be eaten whole or made into flour, soups, porridge, snacks, bread, noodles and ice-cream. Split seeds can be transformed into dhal in the same way as black gram or lentils. Mung beans can be processed to make starch noodles (vermicelli, bean thread noodles, cellophane noodles) or soap. The sprouted seeds ("bean sprouts" in English, and incorrectly called "germes de soja" or "pousses de soja" in French) are relished raw or cooked throughout the world. The immature pods and young leaves are eaten as a vegetable.

The mung bean is thought to have originated from the Indian subcontinent where it was domesticated as early as 1500 BC. Cultivated mung beans were introduced to southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Austronesia, the Americas and the West Indies. It is now widespread throughout the Tropics and is found from sea level up to an altitude of 1850 m in the Himalayas.

The mung bean is a fast-growing, warm-season legume. It reaches maturity very quickly under tropical and subtropical conditions where optimal temperatures are about 28-30°C and always above 15°C. It can be sown during summer and autumn. It does not require large amounts of water (600-1000 mm rainfall/year) and is tolerant of drought. It is sensitive to waterlogging. High moisture at maturity tends to spoil the seeds that may sprout before being harvested. The mung bean grows on a wide range of soils but prefers well-drained loams or sandy loams, with a pH ranging from 5 to 8. It is somewhat tolerant to saline soils.

Mung bean production is mainly (90%) situated in Asia: India is the largest producer with more than 50% of world production but consumes almost its entire production. China produces large amounts of mung beans, which represent 19% of its legume production. Thailand is the main exporter and its production increased by 22% per year between 1980 and 2000. Though it is produced in many African countries, the mung bean is not a major crop there.

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