This book is devoted to grain legumes and include eight chapters devoted to the breeding of
specific grain legume crops and five general chapters dealing with important topics which are
common to most of the species in focus. Soybean is not included in the book as it is commonly
considered an oil crop more than a grain legume and is included in the Oil Crops Volume of the
Handbook of Plant Breeding. Legume species belong to the Fabaceae family and are characterized
by their fruit usually called pod. Several species of this family were domesticated by humans
such as soybean common bean faba bean pea chickpea lentil peanut or cowpea. Some of
these species are of great relevance as human and animal food. Food legumes are consumed either
by their immature pod or their dry seeds which have a high protein content. Globally grain
legumes are the most relevant source of plant protein especially in many countries of Africa
and Latin America but there are some constraints in their production such as a poor
adaptation pest and diseases and unstable yield. Current research trends in Legumes are
focused on new methodologies involving genetic and omic studies as well as new approaches to
the genetic improvement of these species including the relationships with their symbiotic
rhizobia.
