Tropical and subtropical vegetables (2+1)

Economic importance

French Bean
Botanical name : Phaseolus vulgaris
Family : Fabaceae
Chromosome No.: 2n=22
Origin : Southern Mexico and Central America
Common name :Kidney bean, Haricot bean, Snap bean, Navy bean

Economic importance
It is grown for the tender green beans and dry seeds. The pods are slender, 10-25 cm long, straight or slightly curved with prominent beak. Seeds are kidney shaped, elongated and white, red, purple or blackish in colour or mottled. The vegetable is in great demand in cities and is grown both commercially and in home gardens. Its major area is confined to hills, where it is grown for green pods. Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh are the main states where it is being cultivated on large scale.
In India, it is grown in area of 4268 hectare with annual production of 24778 tonnes. Dry grains are an excellent source of cheap protein and many varieties contain 22-23% protein. Hundred grams of edible fresh pods contain 91.4% water, 1.7% protein, 0.1% fat, 0.5% mineral matters, 4.5% carbohydrates, 50 mg Ca, 28 mg P and 1.7 mg Fe. Its 100g dry seeds contain 9.6% water, 24.9% protein, 0.8% fat, 3.2% mineral matters, 60.1% carbohydrates, 60 mg Ca, 433 mg P and 2.4mg Fe. In India, it is mostly grown for fresh consumption, while in USA it is grown for processing in large quantities.