Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding
The genus Mucuna belongs to the Family Fabaceae
(Leguminoceae) and includes about 150 species of
annual and perennial legumes of pantropical distribution.
Many species exhibits properties such as high nitrogen
fixing ability, aggressive growth habit and high
productivity of vegetative matter rendering them as an
excellent source of green-manure cover crop (GMCC)
[1]. Almost all the species are also known to produce
L-Dopa (L 3,4 dihydroxy phenylalanine), a non protein
amino acid that acts as a precursor to the
neurotransmitter drug dopamine used in the treatment
of Parkinson’s disease [2]. Even though Mucuna has
long history of usage in India, most of the research until
now has been focused mainly on determining its
nutritional potential [3, 4]. There is serious paucity of
systematic efforts to collect and evaluate Mucuna
germplasm on all India basis except for some regional
efforts. The scenario call for an immediate need to
embark on “Mucuna germplasm program” in India
starting with collection, documentation and
characterization of the germplasm grown at different
geographic regions of India.
Keywords: N/A
Year: 2010
Volume: 70
Issue: 3
Article DOI: N/A
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
N. Sathyanarayana, P. B. Vikas, T. N. Bharath Kumar, R. Rajesha info_circle
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