ABSTRACT
Rice bean is a tropical to temperate annual vine grain legume with yellow flowers and small edible beans. It is regarded as a minor food, especially in Asia, and rice bean seeds and vegetative parts are also used for fodder. Rice bean grows well on a range of soils. It establishes rapidly and has the potential to produce large amounts of nutritious animal fodder and highquality grain. Green forage yield may be obtained 175-350 quintals/ha from summer crop and 200-350 quintals/ha from kharif crop. Rice bean seeds contain antinutritional factors. Antitrypsin activity is notable though comparable to that of cowpea. Rice bean contains phytic acid, polyphenol, tannins, trypsin inhibitors, other antinutrients, and flatus-producing oligosaccharides. Rice bean is nitrogen-fixing legume that improves the N status of the soil, thus providing N to the following crop and enhances the fertility of soil to a great extent.
