In spite of the considerable effort devoted to winged bean research for many years in various countries, climbing behaviour and short daylength requirement for flowering in this plant had limited research progress and commercial exploitation.
At Kyushu University, several completely photo-insensitive lines were successfully improved by selection, and one dwarf determinate type mutant with photoinsensitivity was also segregated from them. Strains characterized by photoinsensitivity and high green pod yield were also bred by crossing.