Adzuki beans (Vigna angularis), a traditional Chinese legume for sustainable agriculture and food production

Abstract

Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) is a traditional legume crop that plays a crucial role in the sustainability of both agricultural systems and in the food protein supply. As adzuki bean has been used for thousands of years in China as traditional Chinese medicine and foods, it has a great potential to be drug candidate or functional food materials. Adzuki is a good source of essential fatty acids, fiber, minerals and phytochemicals such as polyphenols and phytates. Legumes are nitrogen-fixing systems that have long been used for biological nitrogen fixation in agriculture. Biologically fixed nitrogen of adzuki beans can be yielded so that the hazards of the chemical fertilizers can be reduced. Because of the growing requests for plant production, especially protein and oils and also decrease the economic and environmental pressure on agro-eco systems, it emerges that grain legumes, adzuki bean included would play a major role in future cropping systems and sustainable agriculture. Legumes, especially those which have various medicinal effects can help to restore soil organic matter and reduce pests and diseases problems, and they may lead to more soil fertility. Adzuki beans have considerable potential globally to be a functional food for health promotion and diseases prevention in not only Asian countries, but also other parts of the world.