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Romancing the Velvet Bean - Old Flame of Southern Farmers May Make a Comeback
AUBURN, Ala. - An old romance between southeastern farmers and velvet beans may soon be rekindled, thanks to research underway at Auburn University.
Rodrigo Rodriguez-Kabana, professor of plant pathology in Auburn's College of Agriculture, has been exploring the use of velvet bean as a nematode control for Alabama's cash crops. His research has shown that velvet beans are highly effective, natural nematicides that provide multiple benefits to farmers and may have cash value of their own.
Rodriguez-Kabana explained that velvet bean is a tropical legume native to Southeast Asia and related to soybean and kudzu. Velvet beans were introduced into the southern United States in 1875, apparently by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some southerners used the fast-growing vines for shade around their homes. Farmers also used velvet beans for a variety of purposes, especially after the discovery of a short-season velvet bean that became known as the "Alabama" variety.
"Then, as now, nitrogen fertilizer was very expensive," explained Rodriguez-Kabana. Because velvet beans are legumes, they can fix nitrogen from the air and return it to the soil, so many farmers used it in lieu of nitrogen fertilizers. Velvet beans also were used to control erosion, build soil organic matter and as a forage and feedstuff for cattle, said Rodriguez-Kabana. Southeastern farmers held the velvet bean in high esteem until the 1950s, when two occurrences displaced the crop. "After World War II, nitrogen fertilizer became much cheaper to buy and soybeans became the glamour crop," said Rodriguez-Kabana.
During the 1960s, farmers began to plant soybeans because they promised greater economic and nutritional value as a cash crop and feedstuff. Velvet beans rapidly vanished from the southern landscape. "At one time, there were about a million acres of velvet beans in the state. Now there are only a few," said Rodriguez-Kabana.
About 10 years ago, Rodriguez-Kabana began exploring the use of velvet beans and other plants as nematode-controlling rotation crops for cotton, soybeans and peanuts. Nematodes are microscopic worms that infest soil and cause major crop losses to row and vegetable crops. Nematodes severely infest 10 to 15 percent of Alabama's major cropland and cause severe yield reductions in cotton, peanuts, soybeans and many high-value vegetable crops.
Rodriguez-Kabana explained that several types of nematodes infest southern soils, including root-knot, cyst, reniform and lesion varieties. Synthetic nematicides can be used to control these pests, but environmental concerns are restricting access to and use of these chemicals. A natural control, especially one that provides additional financial benefits for farmers, would be a boon to southern agriculture.
The AU plant pathologist is exploring the effectiveness of various plants that may be natural nematicides, including velvet and other beans, indigo, sesame and various grass crops. Rodriguez-Kabana's management strategy is to rotate acreage planted in traditional cash crops with one of these rotation crops when it is profitable to do so. While several of these crops control some nematodes, velvet beans effectively control a wide range of these diverse pests.
"Velvet beans control most types of nematodes. There is no other plant I know of that can deal with all these, and there are no nematicides that can do that," stated Rodriguez-Kabana.
Velvet beans may also suppress weeds, diseases and insects and they have potential as a cash crop, which means velvet beans can be viewed as an organic, sustainable pesticide crop.
Rodriguez-Kabana noted that velvet beans can also help meet livestock feed needs for the region. "The Southeast is deficient in cattle feed and high quality feed has to be imported into the region from the Midwest," he said. Velvet beans could be a source of forage and feed, and they fit perfectly in the September-to-springtime niche when Alabama forages are less available.
Bob Taylor, ALFA eminent scholar in AU's Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, has been pushing the pencil on velvet beans to see how feasible they are as a rotational and cash crop for the region. His calculations suggest that velvet beans have great potential, and that potential has been enhanced by technological innovations.
Taylor explained that farmers who grew velvet beans in the past harvested the seed pods by hand. Those velvety pods are covered with spiny hairs, which makes hand harvesting a scratchy, uncomfortable and labor-intensive job. Today, however, equipment exists that can harvest the entire plant, including combining seed and baling vines for hay.
"Equipment dealers have told me that technology now exists to harvest velvet beans for commercial use," said Taylor. "Velvet beans could be used for hay, ensiled or even pelletized. What we don't know is harvesting costs with current technology."
"Statistics in 1965 listed velvet bean selling at the farm gate for 50 to 60 percent of the price of cottonseed meal," added Taylor. "This price ratio suggests that velvet bean would be worth $100 to $120 per ton today as a high protein feed."
In addition, an active ingredient in velvet bean is L-dopa, a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease. An AU pharmacologist will be analyzing velvet bean as a possible source of this pharmacological agent, perhaps opening additional markets for the bean. While all this sounds promising, there are several obstacles to overcome before velvet beans become a viable crop in the South. The first is to convince farmers that rotating crops with velvet bean is worthwhile, even before additional cash markets are developed.
"Rodriguez-Kabana's studies have shown that rotating crops with velvet beans can increase yields of cash crops significantly," said Taylor. "We know that velvet beans can reclaim graveyard fields (fields that are no longer in production because nematode populations are so high) and also provide benefits for fields that are in production. On some of the graveyard experimental plots, rotation of traditional crops with velvet beans payed even if the velvet beans were not harvested."
"We are pushing the notion of on-farm participation in our research," Taylor continued. "If farmers can see the yield increases for themselves, they may be more willing to adopt this management method."
Other obstacles to overcome are availability of seed and development of registered velvet bean cultivars. David Weaver, professor of agronomy and soils at Auburn and a prominent soybean breeder, is working with Rodriguez-Kabana to establish a registered breeding line.
Weaver explained that controlled breeding programs for velvet beans were not conducted in the first half of the 1900s when velvet beans were popular. Though little seed is available, Weaver and Rodriguez-Kabana have gathered as much seed as possible and have begun a breeding program to select specific lines for seed propagation.
Tropical varieties of velvet bean typically mature about 200 days after planting, which works well if velvet bean is used as a cover crop and later grazed for winter forage. However, if the crop is to be harvested for other purposes, velvet bean varieties that mature in 90 to 100 days would be preferable.
"We want to evaluate the seed we have and find out how much variability there is in the available germplasm," explained Weaver. "We will be selecting for maturity dates, yield and other traits."
Much research must be done before velvet bean can become the true love of southern agriculture, including answering questions about appropriate livestock feeding regimes for the bean. However, these scientists and others who are participating in AU's velvet bean research hope to soon prove the crop's value so farmers will be willing to again embrace this old flame.
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News from:
Office of Ag Communications & Marketing
Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)
Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
Contact Katie Jackson, 334-844-5886 or smithcl@auburn.edu
