JAGADEESH, B.NSHOWKATH BABU, B.M.2017-08-072017-08-072015-07-10Th-11141http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810027638Dolichos bean (Lablab purpureus L.) is a legume species and belongs to family Fabaceae with 2n=22 chromosomes (Goldblatt, 1981) and genome size of 367 Mbp (Iwata et al., 2013). It is commonly known as field bean, hyacinth bean, Indian bean, Egyptian bean, Bonavist bean, Sem, etc. (Shivashankar and Kulkarni, 1989). It is predominantly a self-pollinated crop (Shivashankar and Kulkarni, 1989). It is believed to have originated in Indian sub-continent (Nene, 2006), as it is documented by archaeo-botanical finds in India from 2000 to 1700 BC at Hallur, the earliest Iron- Age site in Karnataka to 1200 to 300 BC at Veerapuram excavation site in Andhra Pradesh (Fuller, 2003). Based on the angle of attachment of seeds to the suture of the pods, two botanical types of Dolichos bean are recognized (Magoon et al., 1974). These are Lablab purpureus var. typicus and Lablab purpureus var. lignosus. Lablab purpureus var. typicus produces pods that are flat, longer and more tapering with long axis of seeds parallel to the suture of the pod. It is predominantly grown for soft and fleshy whole pods for use a vegetable. Due to its twinning habit it is trained on a pendal. Lablab purpureus var. lignosus is bushy type annual. Pods are relatively shorter and more abruptly truncated and long axis of the seeds is perpendicular to the suture of the pod. The pods of Lablab purpureus var. lignosus exude oily substances that emit characteristic fragrance, a highly preferred trait by farmers and consumers (Shivashankar and Kulkarni, 1989). The pod fragrance is largely attributed to occurrence of two dominant fatty acids such as trans-2-dodecenoic and trans-2- tetradecenoic acids (Fernandes and Nagendrappa, 1979). It is grown for fresh beans for use as a vegetable and to a limited extent as split dhal. It is traditionally intercropped with finger millet, maize and sorghum in southern India under rainfed conditions. However, due to the availability of a few photoperiod insensitive determinate cultivars, Dolichos bean is being cultivated as a pure crop in irrigated ecosystems in Southern Karnataka and adjoining districts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In pure crop stands, the productivity of dry seed yield is 1.2 t ha-1 (raitamitra.kar.co.in) while it is 0.4 to 0.5 t ha-1 in inter-cropping system (Shivashankar and Kulkarni, 1989). Lablab purpureus var. lignosus is also used as a forage crop with green fodder productivity potential of 2.20 to 2.75 t ha-1 under rainfed conditions (Magoon et al., 1974).ennullThesis