ABSTRACT
Common bean (Phaseouls vulgaris L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) are important seedlegumecropsandsupplyalargepartofthedailyproteinrequirementofthepeopleofSouth America,theCaribbean,Africa,andAsia.Commonbeanisaprincipalsourceofproteinformore than500millionpeopleinLatinAmericaandAfrica;whenconsumedassnapbeans,itisanimportantdietarysourceofvitaminsandmineralsinAsia(Yanet al.,1995;Fageria,2002,2006;Fageria et al., 2008). Common bean and cowpea seeds are rich in protein (20%–25%). Though their proteins arede˜cientinsulfuraminoacids,theycomplementcerealsandothercarbohydraterichfoodsin providingnear-perfectnutritiontopeopleofallages.Moreover,aregularintakeofbeanshelps lowercholesterolandcancerrisks(Singh,1999).Beansarealsooneofthebestnonmeatsources of iron, providing 23%–30% of daily recommended levels from a single serving (Perla et al., 2003; Shimelis and Rakshit, 2004). Santalla et al. (2001) reported that common bean is potentially the mostvaluablesourceofplantproteinforhumanconsumptioninmanypartsofSouthEuropeand contributes signi˜cantly to the sustainability of traditional cropping systems.
