studied in a series of field experiments in Nepal, and this revealed that it is one of the best legumes for the purpose due to high biomass production over a short period of time, is easy to incorporate into the soil, and decomposes rapidly. Chemistry Catechin-7-O-glucoside can be found in the seed of V. umbellata. In vitro, this compound has an antioxidant activity leading to a cytoprotective effect. References Further reading Chandel, KP, Joshi, BS, Arora, RK & Part, KC (1978) Ricebean - a new pulse with high potential. Ind Farm 28: 19–22 De Carvalho, NM & Vieira, RD (1996) Rice bean (Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi et Ohasi) In: Nwokolo, E & Smartt, J (Eds) Legumes and Oilseeds in Nutrition. Chapman and Hall, , pp 222–228 Dwivedi, GK (1996) Tolerance of some crops to soil acidity and response to liming. J Ind Soc Soil Sci 44: 736-741 Gittelsohn, J, Thapa, M & Landman, LT (1997) Cultural factors, caloric intake and micronutrient sufficiency in rural Nepali households. Social Science and Medicine 44: 39–1749. Kaga, A, Tomooka, N, Egawa, Y, Hosaka, K & Kamijima, O (1996) Species relationships in the subgenus Ceratotropis (genus Vigna) as revealed by RAPD analysis. Euphytica 88: 17-24 Kaur, M & Kawatra, BL (2002) Effect of domestic processing on zinc bioavailability from ricebean (Vigna umbellata) diets. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 57: 307–318. Lawn, RJ (1995) The Asiatic Vigna species. Chapter 65 in Smartt, J and Simmonds, NW (Eds) Evolution of crop plants. Second edition. Longman Scientific and Technical, Harlow, UK. , pp 321–326. Löwdin, P (1998) Food, ritual and society. A study of social structure and food symbolism among the Newars. Mandala Book Point, Kathmandu, 2nd. Ed. Mohan, VR & Janardhanan, K (1994) Chemical composition and nutritional evaluation of raw seeds of six ricebean varieties. J Ind Bot Soc 73: 259–263. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) (1979) Ricebean. In: Tropical legumes, resources for the future, pp 80–85 Negi, KS, Pant, KC, Muneem, KC & Mal, B (1996) Evaluation of rice bean genetic resources. Ind J For 19: 156-163 Rachie, KO and Roberts, LM (1974) Grain legumes of the lowland tropics. Adv Agron 26: 1-132 Revilleza, MAJR, Mendoza, EMT & Raymundo, LC (1990) Oligosaccharides in several Philippine indigenous food legumes: determination, localization and removal. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 40: 83-93 Saravankumar P, Tomooka N, Kaga, A & Vaughan DA (2003) Studies on wild relatives of grain legumes