Neustanthus | |
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Flowers of Neustanthus phaseoloides | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Genus: | Neustanthus Benth. |
Species: | N. phaseoloides |
Binomial name | |
Neustanthus phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth. | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Neustanthus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the pea family Fabaceae and its tribe Phaseoleae. The only species is Neustanthus phaseoloides, called tropical kudzu. [2] [3] This species is a forage crop and cover crop used in the tropics. [4] It is known as puero in Australia and tropical kudzu [5] in most tropical regions.
It is related to the genus Pueraria and artificial hybridization with P. montana var. lobata has been achieved. [6] Prior to 2016, the accepted name was Pueraria phaseoloides. [2]
The name kudzu does not only refer to N. phaseoloides. It is also used for its close relatives Pueraria montana and P. edulis. N. phaseoloides has different scientific synonyms. [1] Depending on the authors, it is possible that two different variation are citied: N. phaseoloides var. phaseoloides and the bigger and larger N. phaseoloides var. javanica. [7]
The following varieties are accepted: [2]
Neustanthus phaseoloides is indigenous in east or in southeast Asia. Today it has been introduced and naturalized in a broad range of other wet tropical environments: Africa, Americas and Australia. [8] N. phaseoloides prefers to is grow in ruderal situations, such as plantations of cocoa or banana, at low altitudes (often under 600 metres above sea level) in wet evergreen or monsoon forests. [7] N. phaseoloides is capable to growth in a large soil spectrum. Acid soils are not a problem and the pH tolerance is between 4.3 and 8. [7]
Neustanthus phaseoloides is a deep rooting perennial herb, building a subtuberus. [8] This device allows to resist waterlogged soils and short periods of drought. [7] The above ground structure can grow up to 30 cm at day and often the steams can reach 20 m of elongation. [7] N. phaseoloides is a twiner and climbs over other plants or anthropogenic objects. [8] The leaves are large and trifoliate, typical for Leguminosae. The single leaflets can have an oval or triangular shape. Their dimensions can vary from 2 x 2 cm to 20 x 15 cm. [8] The growing season goes from early spring to late fall in the subtropics and year-round in the tropics. [7] Flowers are typical for the Fabales order. The colour ranges from mauve to purple and the dimensions are small and occur in scattered pairs on a raceme. Mature pods of N. phaseoloides show a black color and hair coat. They are straight or slightly curved and can be sized from 4 to 11 cm. Each pod contains 10-20 seeds. They have a particular squarish form with rounded corner (3 x 2 mm) and have also a black or brown colour. [8]
The reproduction of Neustanthus phaseoloides can be vegetative or generative. N. phaseoloides shows an epigeal germination. [7] The growth from seedling is in the first three or four months moderately vigorous. [8] Contrarily to Pueraria montana var. lobata, N. phaseoloides does not have a dormant period. [7] Successful growth was observed with a temperature between 22.1 and 27.4 °C, colder environment drastically reducing the development. [7] After establishment, the plant starts to climb and build tangled mats of over a half meter. [8] It was found that the production of seeds is improved by the possibility to climb. [7] The relatively reduced shade tolerance of N. phaseoloides explain of this phenomenon. [7]
Developed plants can also reproduce vegetatively. When vines are in contact with the soil, a new plant can grow from the nodes. This enlarges and forms new crowns with 3 -4 vines each. The conjunction with the parental plant is kept until the second growing season. [7]
Neustanthus phaseoloides is a diploid species. [8] Depending on the source, the cytological characteristics show different results. The diploid number is probably 20 or 22. [8] Some authors found also 24 chromosomes, this results is disputable. [7]
Neustanthus phaseoloides can become an invasive species when growing in tropical and subtropical habitats due to its fast growth, its wide seed distribution and its ability to fully cover other plants. [9] N. phaseoloides is one of the most invasive species in the United States. [10]
Neustanthus phaseoloides is grown as a cover crop (often with centro and calopo [11] ) in oil palm, rubber and coconut. The main advantages of using N. phaseoloides as a cover crop is the comparable high nitrogen accumulation and the improvement of the soil structure due to its deep rooting system. [12] It can be used as a grazed forage crop and as green manure in crop rotations. Furthermore, it can be used to prevent soil erosion on sloppy soils. [9] In Africa it is mainly used as cover crops in plantations whereas in tropical America, south-east Asia it is used as forage crop in mixtures and as cover crops. [8] In Malaysia its extracts are used as medicine.
As N. phaseoloides is used as cover crop or as part of a mixture in pastures. Its production methods differ for both uses.
Neustanthus phaseoloides is mainly propagated by drill sowing, where the distance between the drill rows is set to one metre. Furthermore, it can be hand planted or propagated by cutting. [11] For increased germination and sanitary protection a hot water treatment (50 °C – 70 °C) can be applied. [8] For soil cover or green manure use, N. phaseoloides is normally sown with a sowing density of 4.0 kg seed per ha, [13] which is similar to 32 – 35 seeds per m2, depending on the seed weight. When sowing pastures with a high weed pressure the number of seed can reach up to 70 seeds per m2 when there is a high weed pressure. When used in mixture N. phaseoloides is sown with a density of 1.5 - 2.0 kg per ha, which is equal to 12 – 18 seeds per m2. [11]
The nutrient requirement of N. phaseoloides was first discussed by Dirven and Ehrencron in 1969. They found that good root development is attained under presence of P, Mg and Ca. Furthermore, they found the highest yield reduction under low P conditions followed by low Ca and Mg conditions whereas at low K, N and Na conditions yield was 50 percent lower. [14] As a legume N. phaseoloides can compensate for low N conditions by increasing symbiotic nitrogen fixation. This also explains its well response to added P. [8] On poor soils 100 kg of P2O5 showed to bring benefital effect on the yield. [11] The Inoculation of the seeds before sowing with Bradyrhizobium is advised for primary cultivated areas. [8]
There are some diseases present in N. phaseoloides. However, the severity of this diseases is on N. phaseoloides is low. [8] The most important diseases are leaf spot (Pseudocercospora puerariae) and anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides). They mainly appear under prolonged humid and warm conditions. [13]
Neustanthus phaseoloides is not drought tolerant. However it was reported that N. phaseoloides can survive short dry periods. [15] This drought susceptibility is a problem as soon as grown in Tropical savanna climate with wet and dry seasons.
The management of N. phaseoloides grown in mixtures is challenging. N. phaseoloides often shows a high palatability compared to tropical grasses; hence under high grazing pressure it can disappear. If the grazing pressure is too low it can dominate due to its fast growth and its climbing ability. [11] Its growth is also affected by the other species in the mixture. It grows well with ori, molasses, guinea and napier grass. However it cannot persist when grown with Brachiaria decumbens or pangola grass. [16]
When used as a forage crop N. phaseoloides is mainly grazed. Cutting for hay, silage, barn betting is possible as well. [8] When used as a green manure kudzu is directly incorporated into the soil. Harvesting of the seeds can be done by hand or with harvesting machines. When grown as monoculture the yield of N. phaseoloides can reach up to 10 tons dry matter per ha, whereas the biggest proportion of the yield is produced during wet season. The yield of mixtures with N. phaseoloides can reach up to 23 tons per ha when grown under optimal conditions. [8] The seed yield can reach up to 330 kg per ha under optimal conditions. The optimum seed yield can only be attained when harvested by hand. If the seeds are harvested with a machine the harvested yield it is noticeably lower. This is due to uneven maturity of the seed pots and therefore high shattering. [11]
There is no breeding done with N. phaseoloides. However, there is some seed traded especially in Australia. [8] There is one germplasm collection in Columbia (CIAT [17] ) and one in Australia (CSIRO [18] ).
Neustanthus phaseoloides shows a high protein content in the seeds (12-20%). [19] [20] Also the nutrient, protein (3.8%) and sugar (7.3%) content of the whole fresh plant (green part) is very high. [21] This is especially true when compared to other tropical plant species. Due to its rich nutrient content N. phaseoloides has a good feeding value. 100g of N. phaseoloides contain 1880 kJ of energy, of which a big share is available as metabolic energy. [21]
Neustanthus phaseoloides is similar to its close relative P. montana and P. edulis . It can be distinguished from P. montana when comparing their tubers. N. phaseoloides produces really small tubers whereas the tubers of P. montana are big and edible. [11]
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the probability of developing resistant pests and weeds.
Kudzu, also called Japanese arrowroot or Chinese arrowroot, is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing deciduous perennial vines native to much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands, but invasive in many parts of the world, primarily North America.
Pueraria montana is a species of plant in the botanical family Fabaceae. At least three sub-species are known. It is closely related to other species in the genus Pueraria and the common name kudzu is used for all of these species and hybrids between them. The morphological differences between them are subtle, they can breed with each other, and it appears that introduced kudzu populations in the United States have ancestry from more than one of the species.
A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae, or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, grass peas, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides.
Pueraria is a genus of 15–20 species of legumes native to Asia. The best known member is kudzu, also called Japanese arrowroot. The genus is named after 19th century Swiss botanist Marc Nicolas Puerari.
Vigna aconitifolia is a drought-resistant legume, commonly grown in arid and semi-arid regions of India. It is commonly called mat bean, moth bean, matki or dew bean. The pods, sprouts and protein-rich seeds of this crop are commonly consumed in India. Moth bean can be grown on many soil types, and can also act as a pasture legume.
In agriculture, a living mulch is a cover crop interplanted or undersown with a main crop, and intended to serve the purposes of a mulch, such as weed suppression and regulation of soil temperature. Living mulches grow for a long time with the main crops, whereas cover crops are incorporated into the soil or killed with herbicides.
Gliricidia sepium, often simply referred to as its genus name Gliricidia, is a medium size leguminous tree belonging to the family Fabaceae. Common names include quickstick, mata ratón; cacao de nance, cachanance; balo in Panama; piñon Cubano in the Dominican Republic; madreado in Honduras; kakawate in the Philippines; madre xacao, madre cacao, or madre de cacao in the Philippines and Guatemala; madero negro in Nicaragua; undirmari in Marathi; pathal or semmakonna in Malayalam and wetahiriya in Sinhala). It is an important multi-purpose legume tree, with a native range from Mexico to Colombia, but now widely introduced to other tropical zones.
Stylosanthes is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae and contains numerous highly important pasture and forage species. It was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Pterocarpus clade of the Dalbergieae. The common name pencilflower is sometimes used for plants in this genus.
Kudzu is an invasive plant species in the United States, introduced from Asia with devastating environmental consequences, earning it the nickname "the vine that ate the South". It has been spreading rapidly in the Southern United States, "easily outpacing the use of herbicide, spraying, and mowing, as well increasing the costs of these controls by $6 million annually". Estimates of the vine's spread vary, from the United States Forest Service's 2015 estimate of 2,500 acres per year to the Department of Agriculture's estimate of as much as 150,000 acres annually.
Bela "Bert" Grof was a Hungarian-born Australian agricultural researcher with contributions to grassland and forage research in the tropics.
Arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally Maranta arundinacea, but also Florida arrowroot from Zamia integrifolia, and tapioca from cassava, which is often labeled arrowroot. Polynesian arrowroot or pia, and Japanese arrowroot, also called kudzu, are used in similar ways. In India, it is called palua.
Bothriochloa pertusa is a species of grass. It is widely used as a fodder and a graze for livestock.
Urochloa brizantha is a species of grass known by the common name palisade grass. It is often used as a forage for livestock.
Alysicarpus vaginalis is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is native to parts of Africa and Asia, and it has been introduced to other continents, such as Australia and the Americas. It is cultivated as a fodder for livestock, for erosion control, and as a green manure. Common names include alyce clover, buffalo clover, buffalo-bur, one-leaf clover, and white moneywort.
Centrosema pubescens, common name centro or butterfly pea, is a legume in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, and tribe Phaseolae. It is native to Central and South America and cultivated in other tropical areas as a forage for livestock.
Brachiaria ruziziensis or Congo grass is a forage crop that is grown throughout the humid tropics. With fast growth at the beginning of the wet season due to strong seedling vigour, ease of establishment, good seed production and yield and the ability to suppress weeds it has the ability to become developed into the most important forage crop planted in the tropics. With the aid of genomic tools to research the genotype and gain more information there is the ability to increase breeding programs which are currently rather limited.
Chamaecrista rotundifolia, round-leaf cassia, also known as pasto rastiero, roundleaf sensitive pea, and Wynn cassia, is a short-lived perennial or self-generating annual plant in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the family Fabaceae. It originated in North America, Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, and Tropical South America but is grown in other parts of the world today. It grows in dry soils and areas of low rainfall, as well as in low-fertility and acidic soils with high levels of solubilized aluminum. It can also reduce erosion and runoff over time. These factors make it a potential asset to farmers in the African Subtropics and elsewhere where soil quality is a barrier to farming. It serves as a source of feed for livestock and acts as a green fertilizer, raising soil quality and nutrient content which can improve yields. These combined benefits make round-leaf cassia a potential solution to many problems faced by poor farmers and their communities.
Centrosema brasilianum belongs to the dicot class with a variety of names such as Clitoria brasiliana, and many more. It is a member of the family Fabaceae. This species in mainly found in South American nations such as Brazil, Guyana, and Bolivia.
Scutellonema bradys, also known as yam nematode, is a migratory endoparasitic nematode causing major damage to yam crop in many African tropical regions, as well in parts of South and Central America and Asia. They can cause reduction of 20-30% in tuber weight at harvest.
Common name: Tropical Kudzu, Wild Kudzu Vine, Puero