Introduced from Rongai area of Kenya to sub-tropical and tropical Australia in 1962 as CPI-17883(CPI 16883?). It is a late flowering variety with high dry matter production. Rongai has white flowers and light brown seeds. In the absence of frosts, it may flower over several months. It is a most common forage cultivar. Seed weighs 5,000/kg. Rongai grown in summer in Australia is a prolific and vigorously twining herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial. Stem robust, 3–6 cm, leaves trifoliate; leaflets broad ovate-rhomboid, 7.5 to 15 cm long, thin, acute apex, almost smooth above and short-haired underneath. Petioles long and slender. Inflorescence lax, fascicled, of many flowered racemes on elongated peduncles. Flowers white. Pods 4–5 cm long, broadly scimitar shaped, smooth and beaked by persistent style, contain two to four seeds. Seeds are buffer or pale brown–coloured, ovoid, laterally compressed with a linear white conspicuous hilum, 1.0 cm long and 0.7 cm broad.

Grows upto 1 meter high with longer stems in climbing types (upto 6 meters tall). Leaves are pubescent, trifoliate, 3–15 cm long and 1.5–14 cm wide. Flowers purple or white, 4–20 cm long and 1.2–1.6 cm in diameter on peduncles that are 2–40 cm long. Pods vary in shape and colour, flat or inflated, 5–20 cm long, 1–5 cm wide.

Introduced to Australia in 1973 as CPI 30212 (CPI 20212?) from Southern India. Earlier flowering variety, originally intended for grain production (high seed yield) in areas experiencing early frosts. Also has adequate forage dry matter production. High Worth has purple flowers and black seeds. Seed weighs 4,000/kg. It has high seed yield coupled with adequate foliage DM production. It has purple flowers and black seeds. High Worth is widely grown in northern New South Wales for forage and will not normally set seed before frosts which occur in late autumn or early winter.

Koala: (Holland and Mullen, (1995). Released in Australia in 1995. It is early maturing grain type, able to seed set before the onset of frost in northern NSW and Southern Queensland, Australia. Produces about 70% of the dry matter yield of HighWorth and Rongai.

Koala was selected from a line introduced from France into Australia as Q 6880 by the Queensland Department of primary Industries in 1962. It was originally imported for evaluation as a forage crop. But evaluation for grain production was started in 1984. The original introduction was segregating for flower and seed colour. From the segregating material, 3 lines had been selected and evaluated in Northern New South Wales during the summers of 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94. One of these three lines was selected and named “Koala”. It has cream coloured seeds and is earlier maturing than currently available Lablab varieties, which are primarily used for forage production. Koala has an erect plant habit and pale mauve of flowers, which are borne in terminal racemes 20–30 cm long held above the foliage. When mature, the plant is 50– 80 cm tall.

The pods are 3– 6 cm long, generally containing 2– 5 seeds with a seed weight of 20– 24g/100 seeds. The hilum is white and the testa is cream.

Koala has been selected for early maturity to enable seed set before the onset of frosts in the cropping zones of northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland.

The average yield of Koala is 1.1t /ha to 2.8t/ha .Kola is relatively insensitive to day length and generally reaches 50% flowering stage in 50–70 days from a December planting in northern New South Wales. The crop can be harvested in 110–160 days after sowing. The protein content of Koala seed varied from 19.6 to 28.3% (dry grain basis) in 1992-93. It was released for cultivation by NSW Agriculture Division of Plant Industries.

Perennial cultivar, developed from the perennial line CPI 24973 and cv. Rongai that grows well in the second and even third year. Has high dry matter production potential. Seed weighs 5,500/kg.

Pusa Early Prolific:It bears early, medium-sized, thin, stringless pods in clusters.It is suitable for sowing both in summer and rainy season.

Pusa Sem-2:Its pods are long, dark-green stringless and semi-round in shape. It is high yielding, tolerant to viruses and insect pod borer, etc. June–July is suitable time for its sowing in North–India. Flowers appear on separate spikes, above the plant canopy.

Pusa Sem-3:The pods are green, meaty, very tender, stringless and flat in shape. It is high yielding; flowers appear on nodes in clusters under the plant canopy. It is tolerant to viruses. It can be sown in June–July.

IGFRI-S-2214-II:It is a quick growing and erect and possesses medium twining habit. Its vines are thick, non-pigmented, light-green and pubescent, leaves dark-green, broad and pubescent with a velvety touch; petioles thick and long; racemes long, thick with white flowers in clusters. Pods 4–7 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm broad, flat, green, glabrous and fibrous and seeds 4– 6 per pod, greenish-brown and round. It is also suitable for growing in association with other forage crops including pasture grasses. It yielded between 250–275q/ha of green fodder in a single cut taken at full bloom stage, while in two cuts it produced 220–235q/ha of green fodder. The leafiness varied from 40–50%.

IGFRI-S-2218-I:It is medium in growth rate and of decumbent habit and possesses good twining habit. Its vines are medium thick, pigmented and glabrous; leaves dark-green, medium in size and glabrous; petiole medium thick and medium long; racemose medium long with purple flowers in clusters; pods 3– 6 cm long, 1.5– 2.9 cm broad, flat, glabrous and fibrous; and seeds 3– 5 per pod. Yield under dry land conditions ranged from 240– 260 q/ ha of green fodder from a single cut taken at full bloom stage, while in two cuts, it yielded 210 – 220 q/ha of green fodder.

HA-1: It is a selection from the segregating population of the cross Local Avare x Red typicus. The variety matures in 90–100 days, yields upto 8 q/ha, non-season –bound and the seeds have a good cooking quality.

HA-3: Hybridization was effected between a day-neutral variety typicus and a locally cultivated variety lignosus. (Hebbal Avare-1 x US. 67-31). The F1 hybrid was indeterminate, spreading with tendrils and is perennial. However, a segregant was found in F2 generation which resembled neither of the parents in habit. It was bushy, determinate with no tendrils. It bred true even upto F6 generation.

It was photo-insensitive and determinate type with yields between 12-15 qs/ha. and hence could be cultivated throughout the year. It matures in 4 to 4½ months and had that characteristic fragrance on the pod surface for which it is preferred by the consumers. With bushy habit, more number of plants could be filled in an unit area with better yields and the green pods, which are used as vegetables either as tender pods or immature seeds, are available throughout the year as against certain period of the year, which was the characteristic of the traditional varieties.It has 24% protein; the green pods have characteristic odour, common with most of the locally cultivated varieties.

HA 4 is a derivative of the cross HA 3 and magadi local. Plants are photoinsensitive, non-viny, compact with determinate growth habit. This variety can be cultivated althrough the year. Flowering ranged from 40 – 45 days and maturity from 95 – 100 days. Its green pods can be harvested in 65 – 70 days. Pods are constricted and also have the characteristic odour ( Sogadu) during summer season also instead of winter season only, which used to be so usual with traditional field varieties cultivated in the state. This variety has the potential to produce 10 – 12 q/ha of dry seeds and 45 – 50 q/ha of green pods.

Field bean (Lablab purpureus L. Sweet). Syn. Dolichos Lablab L. is an important vegetable crop. Since the crop was photo–sensitive, its cultivation was restricted to a certain season in the year. With the release of a new photo-insensitive variety, Hebbal Avare-3 it had become possible to grow this crop during any season of the year. This was a cross between Hebbal Avare-1 and US-67-13. it has indeed performed well with a seed yield of 6–7 q/acre.

Besides seeds, young pods are also used as green vegetables. But Hebbal Avare-3 was not suitable for this purpose. Hence, a cross was made between Hebbal Avare –1 x CO.8. The former is early (90 days duration) and erect, but its pods are green and fibrous. The latter is late (120-130 days duration), viny with soft, white and inflated vegetable pods. However, in the F5 generation of this, a segregant has been isolated which had the desired character combinations.

The new strain was erect in habit and early maturing (80–90 days). Soft, white and inflated pods which can be directly consumed as a green vegetable. Height of the plant is 65–75 cm, bears 8–9 peduncles with average of 30-pods/plant. It is photo–insensitive and the pods for vegetable purposes could be harvested from 50–55 days from sowing and continue for one month with 2–3 days interval. Yield of green pods per picking, 340 kg/acre. Fibre content of the pods even at fairly late stage is minimum and thus acceptable as vegetable. Since it is photo–insensitive with quality green pods, it may serve as a good source of nutritive vegetable throughout the year.

Co-1:From the segregating populations, between Dolichos Lablab var. lignosus and var. typicus in 1959 selection was made for the vegetable quality of typicus and seed quality of lignosus. As a result, DL.3025 was selected and released as CO.1 for cultivation.

CO.1 plants are short, bushy and erect. Flowering starts from 45th day after sowing and continues for about 90–100 days. Its total duration is 115–120 days from seed to seed. Average number of flowers in each inflorescence ranges between 55–60 and about 50% of the flowers set pods. The green pods which are fit for consumption as vegetable can be harvested 10–12 days after flowering. The pods are tender in the early stages and afterwards become fibrous and only seeds can be used. The green pods which are fit for use as vegetables can be harvested till 100–105 days. The green pods as well as seeds contain more protein and fat than both the parents as well as other promising cultures.

CO.1 is erect, short and bushy, stem light green with pubescence, pointing downwards; leaf trifoliate, dull-green with hairs on under–surface. Inflorescence is racemose; flowers white and Papilionaceous; flowering duration 45 days from sowing; pod septate, light green, 6.5–7.0 cm long and 2 cm broad; protein 29.7%; fat 3.93%; seeds buff coloured, 0.96 cm long, 0.76 cm broad, 0.38 cm thick; weight of 1000 seeds is 210g. Number of seeds in 100 CC is 337, 25.4% protein, 1.8% fat. It is suited to all the districts of the state of Tamilnadu..

Co.1, Co-6, Co-7 and Co-8: Other varieties developed by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. They are dual-purpose varieties used for both vegetable and seed.

A kitchen garden variety, which is a climber and pods are edible, was crossed with a field variety, which has fibrous pods and only seeds were used as pulse, at Coimbatore. Although, the crosses between these two varieties were sterile, however, only one cross was found to be fairly fertile. Its parents were DL250, a fleshy, tasty and high yielding kitchen garden variety and DL231, a strain of the field variety. A selection in the advanced generation of the cross, viz., DL1428 was found to have a combination of desirable qualities of both its parents and at the same time it was fertile. It was a kitchen garden type having climbing habit, fleshy edible pods with good taste. However, there was a slight trace of a smell characteristic of the field variety, which was disagreeable to some, but it disappeared on cooking. It yielded 6,070 lbs of tender pods per acre, which was economical.

The new variety CO11 (culture name- COL1 22) is a hybrid derivative between CO.9 (a bushy type) x White Yanaikathu (a pandal type) with desirable characters like extra early duration (95-100 days), high pod yield with high quality pods coupled with high grain yield. It was recorded an overall mean green pod yield of 9.4 t / ha as against 6.1 t / ha recorded by CO9 and CO10, respectively. The increase in pod yield was 55% over CO.9 and 59% over CO.10. It has recorded the grain yield of 1,115 kg/ha as against 1000 and 938 kg/ha, respectively. It was found to be equivalent with the pandal type, CO 3 in quality characters.

Hybrids were produced between Dolichos Lablab var. lignosus and var. typicus in 1959 with a view to evolve dual purpose selections possessing the vegetable quality of typicus and seed quality of lignosus. From the segregating populations, selection was made and tried extensively in the state. As a result, DL.3025 was selected and released as CO.1 for cultivation ( Ottu mochai)

CO.1 plants are short, bushy and erect. Flowering starts from 45th day after sowing and continues for about 90–100 days. Its total duration is 115–120 days from seed to seed. Average number of flowers in each inflorescence ranges between 55–60 and about 50% of the flowers set pods. The green pods which are fit for consumption as vegetable can be harvested 10–12 days after flowering. The pods are tender in the early stages and afterwards become fibrous and only seeds can be used. The green pods which are fit for use as vegetables can be harvested till 100–105 days. In the trials conducted at Coimbatore and also in the farmers’ holdings, CO.1 yielded on an average 4,600 kg/ha of green pods or 1,100 kg/ha of seeds as against the yield of 845 kg/ha of seeds of DL. 3196, the control variety. The green pods as well as seeds contain more protein and fat than both the parents as well as other promising cultures.

CO.1 is erect, short and bushy, stem light green with pubescence, pointing downwards; leaf trifoliate, dull-green with hairs on under–surface. Inflorescence is racemose; flowers white and Papilionaceous; flowering duration 45 days from sowing; pod septate, light green, 6.5–7.0 cm long and 2 cm broad; protein 29.7%; fat 3.93%; seeds buff coloured, 0.96 cm long, 0.76 cm broad, 0.38 cm thick; weight of 1000 seeds is 210g. Number of seeds in 100 CC is 337, 25.4% protein, 1.8% fat. It is suited to all the districts of the state of Madras.

“Konkan Bhushan”: High yielding (Lablab purpureus) genotypes with pods suitable for vegetable purpose were selected from the segregating populations of Hebbal Avare–3 x Wall. In trials at various locations, promising selection DPL-D1, named “Konkan Bhushan”, gave greater pod yield (8.8–13.6 tonnes per hactare as against 5.0 to 9.3 tonnes per hactare) than other popular varieties. It is a bush type plant, 60–75 cm tall, matures in 55–60 days after sowing. The pods are tender and stringless. A plant produces 125–180 pods. It is adaptable to various types of soils and climates.

“Xiangbiandou-1”is an extremely early cultivar (95 days earlier than that of normal hyacinth bean (Dolichos Lablab/L. purpureus). Dense planting of this new cultivar produces high yields. The yield is about 42,000 kg/ha. It can be planted in middle-below and the south of Changjiang River, China. It is resistant to diseases and tolerant to cold.

Participatory plant breeding brings the benefits of plant breeding to all farmers regardless of gender, wealth, status, literacy, etc., through an innovative way of organizing agricultural research in which farmers and scientists fully share the decisions concerning the development of new varieties. The aim was to breed acceptable varieties with minimum use of resources and to utilize farmers' knowledge. Farmers proved to be willing participants and made selections in the segregating material, often with great success. In the Farmers Participatory Plant Breeding (FPPB) programme involving dolichos crop, farmers were identified for the evaluation of advanced breeding materials for their acceptance so that the breeding efforts for the delivery of varieties is made progressively fast. In the present study, totally 103 lines have been taken and their performance was evaluated under farmers field condition. During flowering, pod development and maturation period farmers were invited from the surrounding villages for the selection of superior lines. Out of 103 lines, 27 lines have been selected for their superiority for pod yield, branching pattern, pod formation, seed size and seed color. These selected lines are used for seed multiplication for further evaluation in farmer's fields.