You are on page 1of 53

Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies

Legumes Volume 7 Jameel M. Al-Khayri


Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-plant-breeding-strategies-legumes-volu
me-7-jameel-m-al-khayri/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies Cereals Volume 5


Jameel M. Al-Khayri

https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-plant-breeding-
strategies-cereals-volume-5-jameel-m-al-khayri/

Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies Nut and Beverage


Crops Volume 4 Jameel M. Al-Khayri

https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-plant-breeding-
strategies-nut-and-beverage-crops-volume-4-jameel-m-al-khayri/

Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies Industrial and


Food Crops Volume 6 Jameel M. Al-Khayri

https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-plant-breeding-
strategies-industrial-and-food-crops-volume-6-jameel-m-al-khayri/

Plant Breeding Reviews: Volume 40 1st Edition Jules


Janick (Editor)

https://textbookfull.com/product/plant-breeding-reviews-
volume-40-1st-edition-jules-janick-editor/
Plant breeding reviews: Volume 42 1st Edition Irwin
Goldman (Editor)

https://textbookfull.com/product/plant-breeding-reviews-
volume-42-1st-edition-irwin-goldman-editor/

Plant breeding reviews: Volume 43 1st Edition Irwin


Goldman (Editor)

https://textbookfull.com/product/plant-breeding-reviews-
volume-43-1st-edition-irwin-goldman-editor/

Plant Breeding Reviews: Volume 41 1st Edition Irwin


Goldman (Editor)

https://textbookfull.com/product/plant-breeding-reviews-
volume-41-1st-edition-irwin-goldman-editor/

Advances in Plant Ecophysiology Techniques Adela M.


Sánchez-Moreiras

https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-plant-ecophysiology-
techniques-adela-m-sanchez-moreiras/

Current Technologies in Plant Molecular Breeding A


Guide Book of Plant Molecular Breeding for Researchers
1st Edition Hee-Jong Koh

https://textbookfull.com/product/current-technologies-in-plant-
molecular-breeding-a-guide-book-of-plant-molecular-breeding-for-
researchers-1st-edition-hee-jong-koh/
Jameel M. Al-Khayri · Shri Mohan Jain
Dennis V. Johnson Editors

Advances in
Plant Breeding
Strategies:
Legumes
Volume 7
Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies: Legumes
Jameel M. Al-Khayri • Shri Mohan Jain
Dennis V. Johnson
Editors

Advances in Plant Breeding


Strategies: Legumes
Volume 7
Editors
Jameel M. Al-Khayri Shri Mohan Jain
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology University of Helsinki
King Faisal University Helsinki, Finland
Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia

Dennis V. Johnson
Cincinnati, OH, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-23399-0    ISBN 978-3-030-23400-3 (eBook)


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23400-3

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims
in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface

Contemporary plant breeders no longer need to rely solely on traditional method-


ologies in their work of assuring a sustainable and elastic level of world food pro-
duction. However, human population is increasing at an alarming rate in developing
countries, and food availability could gradually become a serious problem.
Agriculture production is severely affected because of environmental pollution,
rapid industrialization, water scarcity and quality, erosion of fertile topsoil, limited
remaining arable land to expand production area, lack of improvement of local plant
types, erosion of genetic diversity, and dependence on only few crop species for
food supply worldwide. According to FAO, 70% more food must be produced over
the next four decades to feed a projected population of 9 billion people by the year
2050. Currently, only 30 plant species are used to meet 95% of the world’s food
requirements, which are considered as the major crops. The breeding programs of
these crops have been very much dependent on the ready availability of genetic
variation, either spontaneous or induced. Plant breeders and geneticists are under
constant pressure to sustain and increase food production by using innovative breed-
ing strategies and introducing minor crops that are well adapted to marginal lands
and can provide source of nutrition through tolerance of abiotic and biotic stresses.
In traditional breeding, introgression of one or a few genes into a cultivar is carried
out via backcrossing over several plant life cycles.
With the development of new molecular tools, molecular marker-assisted back-
crossing has facilitated rapid introgression of a transgene into a plant and reduced
linkage drag. Continued development and adaptation of plant biotechnology,
molecular markers, and genomics have established ingenious new tools for the cre-
ation, analysis, and manipulation of genetic variation for the development of
improved cultivars. For example, molecular breeding has great potential to become
standard practice in the improvement of several fruit crops. Adopting a multidisci-
plinary approach comprised of traditional plant breeding, mutation breeding, plant
biotechnology, and molecular biology would be strategically ideal for developing
new improved crop varieties. This book highlights the recent progress in the devel-
opment of plant biotechnology, associated molecular tools, and their usage in plant
breeding.

v
vi Preface

The basic concept of this book is to examine the best use of both innovative and
traditional methods of plant breeding to develop new crop varieties suited to differ-
ent environmental conditions to achieve sustainable food production, enhanced
food security in a changing global climate as well as the development of crops for
enhanced production of pharmaceuticals and innovative industrial uses. Three vol-
umes of this book series were published in 2015, 2016, and 2018, respectively:
Volume 1, Breeding, Biotechnology and Molecular Tools; Volume 2, Agronomic,
Abiotic, and Biotic Stress Traits; and Volume 3, Fruits. In 2019, the following four
volumes are concurrently being published: Volume 4, Nut and Beverage Crops;
Volume 5, Cereals; Volume 6, Industrial and Food Crops; and Volume 7, Legumes.
This Volume 7, subtitled Legumes, focuses on advances in breeding strategies
using both traditional and modern approaches for the improvement of individual
legume crops. Included in this volume are adzuki bean, black gram, chickpea cluster
bean, common bean, cowpea, faba bean, hyacinth bean, lentil, mung bean, pigeon
pea, and soybean.
Chapters are written by internationally reputable scientists and subjected to a
review process to assure quality presentation and scientific accuracy. Each chapter
begins with an introduction covering related backgrounds and provides in-depth
discussion of the subject supported with high-quality color photos, illustrations, and
relevant data. This volume contains a total of 81 figures and 47 tables to illustrate
presented concepts. The chapter concludes with an overview of the current status of
breeding and recommendations for future research directions as well as appendixes
listing research institutes and genetic resources relevant to the topic crop. A compre-
hensive list of pertinent references is provided to facilitate further reading.
The book is an excellent reference source for plant breeders and geneticists
engaged in breeding programs involving biotechnology and molecular tools together
with traditional breeding. It is suitable for both advanced undergraduate and post-
graduate students specializing in agriculture, biotechnology, and molecular breed-
ing as well as for seed companies and policy makers.
We are greatly appreciative of all chapter authors for their contributions toward
the success and quality of this book. We are proud of this diverse collaborative
undertaking, especially since this volume represents the efforts of 57 scientists from
9 countries. We are also grateful to Springer for giving us an opportunity to compile
this book.

Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia  Jameel M. Al-Khayri


Helsinki, Finland  Shri Mohan Jain
Cincinnati, OH, USA  Dennis V. Johnson
Contents

1 Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.)


Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding����������������������������������������������������������������������    1
Lixia Wang, Jie Wang, and Xuzhen Cheng
2 Recent Advances in Breeding, Marker Assisted Selection
and Genomics of Black Gram (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper)������������������   25
Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Junaid Bilal, Usman Ijaz,
Muhammad Zubair, Ijaz Rasul, Muhammad Jawad Asghar,
Ghulam Abbas, Rana Muhammad Atif, and Amjad Hameed
3 Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Cytogenetics,
Genetic Diversity and Breeding��������������������������������������������������������������   53
Aamir Raina, Samiullah Khan, Mohammad Rafiq Wani,
Rafiul Amin Laskar, and Waseem Mushtaq
4 Cluster Bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub] Breeding�������������� 113
Aravind Kumar Jukanti, Rakesh Pathak, and Chiranjeevi Mushyam
5 Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Breeding���������������������������������� 151
Oswalt R. Jiménez
6 Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] Breeding�������������������������������� 201
Ousmane Boukar, Abou Togola, Siva Chamarthi, Nouhoun Belko,
Haruki Ishikawa, Kanako Suzuki, and Christian Fatokun
7 Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Breeding�������������������������������������������������������� 245
Xuxiao Zong, Tao Yang, and Rong Liu
8 Hyacinth Bean (Lablab purpureus L. Sweet):
Genetics, Breeding and Genomics���������������������������������������������������������� 287
Panichayil V. Vaijayanthi, Chandrakant, and Sampangi Ramesh

vii
viii Contents

9 Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) Diversity, Cytogenetics


and Breeding�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 319
Rafiul Amin Laskar, Samiullah Khan, Chitta Ranjan Deb,
Nasya Tomlekova, Mohammad Rafiq Wani, Aamir Raina,
and Ruhul Amin
10 Mung Bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) Breeding�������������������������� 371
Jungmin Ha and Suk-Ha Lee
11 Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.): An Ideal Crop
for Sustainable Agriculture �������������������������������������������������������������������� 409
Rachit K. Saxena, K. B. Saxena, and Rajeev K. Varshney
12 Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] Breeding:
History, Improvement, Production and Future Opportunities����������� 431
Edwin J. Anderson, Md Liakat Ali, William D. Beavis,
Pengyin Chen, Tom Elmo Clemente, Brian W. Diers,
George L. Graef, Patricio Grassini, David L. Hyten,
Leah K. McHale, Randall L. Nelson, Wayne A. Parrott,
Gunvant B. Patil, Robert M. Stupar, and Kelley J. Tilmon

Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 517
Editors and Contributors

About the Editors

Jameel M. Al-Khayri is a Professor of Plant


Biotechnology affiliated with the Department of
Agricultural Biotechnology, King Faisal University,
Saudi Arabia. He received his BS in Biology in 1984
from the University of Toledo, MS in Agronomy in
1988, and PhD in Plant Science in 1991 from the
University of Arkansas. He is a member of the
International Society for Horticultural Science and
Society for In Vitro Biology as well as the National
Correspondent of the International Association of
Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology. His graduate
work resulted in the establishment of in vitro regenera-
tion protocols for spinach and zoysia grass. For the last
two decades, he dedicated his research efforts to date
palm. He has authored over 60 research articles in
referred international journals and 25 review chapters
and edited 7 journal special issues. In addition, he
edited five reference books on date palm biotechnology
and utilization of genetic resources and seven volumes
of the book series advances in plant breeding strategies.
He has been involved in organizing international scien-
tific conferences and contributed numerous research
presentations. In addition to teaching, students advis-
ing, and research, he held administrative responsibili-
ties as the Assistant Director of Date Palm Research
Center, Head of Department of Plant Biotechnology,
and Vice Dean for Development and Quality Assurance.
Dr. Al-Khayri served as a Member of Majlis Ash Shura

ix
x Editors and Contributors

(Saudi Legislative Council) for the 2009–2012 term.


Currently he is maintaining an active research program
on date palm focusing on genetic transformation, sec-
ondary metabolites, and in vitro mutagenesis to enhance
tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress.

Shri Mohan Jain is a Consultant and Plant


Biotechnologist, Department of Agricultural Sciences,
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; he received
his MPhil in 1973 and PhD in 1978, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India. He was a Postdoctoral
Fellow in Israel and the USA and Visiting Scientist/
Professor in Japan, Malaysia, Germany, and Italy. He
was a Technical Officer, Plant Breeding and Genetics,
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna,
Austria, 1999–2005. He is a Member of the International
Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology
and an Editorial Board Member of Euphytica, In Vitro,
Propagation of Ornamental Plants, Emirates Journal
of Food and Agriculture, and a series on Forest
Biotechnology. His publications are more than 160 in
peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference
proceedings, and he has edited 55 books and was
invited speaker and acted as a Chairperson in several
international conferences worldwide. He was awarded
Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 in commemoration of the
awarding to IAEA of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005;
he is also former consultant to IAEA, the European
Union, the Government of Grenada, Iranian Private
Company, and the Egyptian Government. Currently his
research interests are somatic embryogenesis, organo-
genesis, haploidy, somatic cell hybridization, soma-
clonal variation, and mutagenesis mainly in medicinal
plants, date palm, and banana genetic improvement,
genetic diversity, erosion, conservation, and utilization
in the context of climate change and food and nutri-
tional security.
Editors and Contributors xi

Dennis V. Johnson is a Consultant and former


University Professor. He is a graduate of the University
of California, Los Angeles, where he completed his BA
(1966), MA (1970), and PhD (1972) degrees in
Geography, with specialization in Agriculture and
Biogeography. He has taught at several colleges and
universities, including the University of Houston, and
was a Visiting Professor for 2 years at the University of
Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil. Dr. Johnson also has worked
extensively with international development agencies
providing technical assistance to agriculture and for-
estry on projects and programs in Africa, Asia, Europe,
and Latin America. He has published numerous arti-
cles on palm utilization and conservation and has edited
or written books for FAO, IUCN, and UNEP. He has
also translated into English plant science books from
Portuguese and Spanish. A decade ago Dr. Johnson
began to focus his research on date palm, in particular
its introduction to nontraditional areas such as Spain,
North and South America, and Australia. He co-
authored a book on date growing in the USA and has
made presentations at five international date palm con-
ferences and co-edited books on date palm, sago palm,
and plant breeding.

Contributors

Ghulam Abbas Plant Breeding and Genetics Division, Nuclear Institute of


Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Md Liakat Ali Division of Plant Sciences, Fisher Delta Research Center, University
of Missouri, Portageville, MO, USA
Ruhul Amin Mutation Breeding Laboratory, Department of Botany, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh, UP, India
Edwin J. Anderson North Central Soybean Research Program, Iowa Soybean
Association, Ankeny, IA, USA
Muhammad Jawad Asghar Plant Breeding and Genetics Division, Nuclear
Institute of Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Rana Muhammad Atif Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, U.S.-Pakistan
Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture & Food Security, University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
xii Editors and Contributors

Farrukh Azeem Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC University,


Faisalabad, Pakistan
William D. Beavis Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA,
USA
Nouhoun Belko Cowpea Breeding Unit, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Kano, Nigeria
Muhammad Junaid Bilal Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC
University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Ousmane Boukar Cowpea Breeding Unit, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Kano, Nigeria
Siva Chamarthi Cowpea Breeding Unit, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Kano, Nigeria
Chandrakant Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, UAS, GKVK,
Bangalore, India
Xuzhen Cheng Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, Beijing, China
Pengyin Chen Division of Plant Sciences, Fisher Delta Research Center, University
of Missouri, Portageville, MO, USA
Tom Elmo Clemente Center for Plant Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
NE, USA
Chitta Ranjan Deb Department of Botany, Nagaland University, Lumami,
Nagaland, India
Brian W. Diers Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL,
USA
Christian Fatokun Cowpea Breeding Unit, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
George L. Graef Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
Patricio Grassini Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
Jungmin Ha Department of Plant Science and Research Institute of Agriculture
and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic
of Korea
Amjad Hameed Plant Breeding and Genetics Division, Nuclear Institute of
Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Editors and Contributors xiii

David L. Hyten Department of Soybean Genetics and Genomics, Center for Plant
Science Innovation, Nebraska Food for Health Center, University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, NE, USA
Usman Ijaz Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC University,
Faisalabad, Pakistan
Haruki Ishikawa Cowpea Breeding Unit, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
Oswalt R. Jiménez The Institute for Training, Research and Environmental
Development (CIDEA), University of Central America, Managua, Nicaragua
Aravind Kumar Jukanti Department of Plant Breeding, ICAR-IIRR, Hyderabad,
India
Samiullah Khan Mutation Breeding Laboratory, Department of Botany, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh, Utter Pradesh, India
Rafiul Amin Laskar Mutation Breeding Laboratory, Department of Botany,
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP, India
Suk-Ha Lee Department of Plant Science and Research Institute of Agriculture
and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic
of Korea
Rong Liu Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Beijing, China
Leah K. McHale Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH, USA
Waseem Mushtaq Allelopathy Laboratory, Department of Botany, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Chiranjeevi Mushyam Department of Plant Breeding, ICAR-IIRR, Hyderabad,
India
Randall L. Nelson Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana,
IL, USA
Wayne A. Parrott Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia,
Athens, GA, USA
Rakesh Pathak ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
Gunvant B. Patil Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of
Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
Aamir Raina Mutation Breeding Laboratory, Department of Botany, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh, Utter Pradesh, India
xiv Editors and Contributors

Sampangi Ramesh Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, UAS, GKVK,


Bangalore, India
Ijaz Rasul Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC University,
Faisalabad, Pakistan
K. B. Saxena International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics,
Patancheru, India
Rachit K. Saxena International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics, Patancheru, India
Robert M. Stupar Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of
Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
Kanako Suzuki Cowpea Breeding Unit, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Lusaka, Zambia
Kelley J. Tilmon Department of Entomology, Ohio Agricultural Research and
Development Center, Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, USA
Abou Togola Cowpea Breeding Unit, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture,
Kano, Nigeria
Nasya Tomlekova Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Breeding,
Maritsa Vegetable Crops Research Institute, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Panichayil V. Vaijayanthi Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, UAS,
GKVK, Bangalore, India
Rajeev K. Varshney International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics, Patancheru, India
Jie Wang Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Beijing, China
Lixia Wang Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Beijing, China
Mohammad Rafiq Wani Abdul Ahad Azad Memorial Degree College, Bemina,
Cluster University, Srinagar, India
Tao Yang Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Beijing, China
Xuxiao Zong Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, Beijing, China
Muhammad Zubair Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC
University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Chapter 1
Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.)
Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding

Lixia Wang, Jie Wang, and Xuzhen Cheng

Abstract Adzuki bean [Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi], an annual pulse
crop, belongs to the genus Vigna and subgenus Ceratotrapis. It provides nutritional ele-
ments for the human diet and fertilizes soil by nitrogen fixation. It has been traditionally
planted and consumed in East and Southeast Asia, especially in China, Japan and Korea,
so it came to be called the Asia legume. Adzuki bean was dispersed to other continents
for commercial uses in recent decades. Wild adzuki bean (V. angularis var. nipponensis),
considered to be the ancestor of cultivated adzuki bean, occurs in East Asia and in the
Himalayan Region, which are presumed to be where the domestication of adzuki bean
took place. Another wild form, V. nepalensis, called the weedy adzuki bean, is mainly
found in Eastern Nepal and around. A large portion of adzuki bean germplasm has been
collected and conserved in different gene banks. DNA marker analysis suggests that
there are obvious genetic distinctions between different forms, but the diversity among
cultivated germplasm is quite low, indicating that the wild forms could be an important
genetic resource for breeding. However, the genetic and genomic studies on this species
are lagging and include only low-density genetic maps and a few maps of genes. That is
the reason conventional breeding of adzuki bean has achieved rapid improvement, while
no modern biotechnology has yet been used in breeding.

Keywords Biotechnology · Breeding · Conservation · Distribution · Diversity ·


Genetics

1.1 Introduction

Adzuki bean [Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi], also called azuki or aduki,
is an annual cultivated crop, belonging to the genus Vigna and subgenus Ceratotropis.
Most of the collections, especially commercial varieties, have seeds with a uniform

L. Wang (*) · J. Wang · X. Cheng


Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
e-mail: wanglixia03@caas.cn; chengxuzhen@caas.cn

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1


J. M. Al-Khayri et al. (eds.), Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies: Legumes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23400-3_1
2 L. Wang et al.

red color, so it is called red bean in folk parlance and is often confused with the red
lucky seed tree (Adenanthera pavonina) which has poisonous red seeds. Adzuki
bean is a diploid legume crop with 22 chromosomes (2n = 2x = 22) and an estimated
genome size of about 500 Mb (Kang et al. 2015; Parida et al. 1990; Yang et al. 2015;
Sakai et al. 2016), similar to its related crops, such as mung bean (V. radiata), rice
bean (V. umbellata) and cowpea (V. unguiculata). The exact origin of adzuki bean is
yet unknown; however, the presumed wild ancestor of cultivated adzuki bean is
probably V. angularis var. nipponensis, which is distributed across Japan, Korea,
China, Nepal, Bhutan and the Himalayan Region (Yamaguchi 1992). These regions,
therefore, have a fairly high genetic diversity of adzuki bean. However, northeastern
Asia is considered to be the initial domestication site of the crop according to
archaeological findings (Lin et al. 2002). This chapter covers the distribution, pro-
duction and uses of the adzuki bean, and also reports on the collection and conserva-
tion of germplasm resources, genetic studies and breeding, to provide an overview
of the crop.

1.1.1 Distribution and Importance

As a warm-season pulse crop, adzuki bean is widely distributed in East and Southeast
Asia, especially China, Japan and Korea, where it is usually called the Asian legume
(Kramer et al. 2012; Tomooka et al. 2002). In recent decades, the cultivation of
adzuki bean has spread to many countries in the world, such as Canada and Brazil,
mainly for commercial uses. It is said the adzuki bean was recently planted in Africa
as well, but there are no detailed statistical information available yet.
Compared with maize (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), soybean (Glycine
max) and other food crops, adzuki bean is a minor crop based on its planting area,
total production and the consumption frequency in daily diets (Zheng 1997).
However, it is certainly important, both in agricultural systems and modern dietary
patterns. It can fertilize the soil by nitrogen fixation, and has become popular in
intercropping and rotation systems. For instance, it is often intercropped with cotton
and cereal crops in Northern China, or with sugarcane or young fruit trees in south-
ern China, and grown in rotations in Japan.
Adzuki bean has been an important ingredient in desserts of East Asian diets and
can be made into diverse sweetened bean paste. It also provides a source of plant
protein for people from poor regions as a staple food. Adzuki bean is a traditional
remedy too, especially in Chinese medicine, and popularly used in supplementary
treatment of edema, eczema and other common diseases. Recent studies suggest
that the functional factors, such as saponins and flavonoids in adzuki bean, amelio-
rate obesity by regulating lipid metabolism, as shown in animal tests (Kim et al.
2017; Liu et al. 2017a, b; Shi et al. 2017), which is providing an important basis to
develop new health products.
1 Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding 3

1.1.2 Area and Production

Adzuki bean is temperature, moisture and light sensitive. The optimal temperature
range for its growth is 25–35 °C. Excessively high temperatures will lead to slender
seedlings, while low temperature will retard development. Germination needs soil
temperatures above 6–10 °C (30–34 °C optimal). Adzuki bean can be sown in
spring, summer or autumn, based on different climates, but it is always planted in
summer in the northern and middle parts of China, where the main production areas
in the country exist. Although adzuki bean can withstand drought to a certain degree
(Luo et al. 2014) and it is usually not irrigated during the growth period, some rain-
fall is beneficial to boost the crop yield.
Over 20 countries plant adzuki bean at present; the largest are China, Japan and
Korea, with estimated planting areas of 0.67, 0.12 and 0.03 million ha per year,
respectively (Rubatzky et al. 1997). However, later estimates are lower, 0.3–0.4,
0.06–0.08 and 0.025 million ha, respectively (Cheng and Wang 2009). However,
these data may be updated because in recent years, the annual area in China is cur-
rently estimated to be 0.45 million ha, and will increase with the recent policy
changes of the agriculture structure at the national level. However, no recent official
statistics are available.
Adzuki bean is the second most important legume after soybean in Japan.
Hokkaido is the main production region, where full mechanization has been used in
adzuki bean production leading to a relatively high economic efficiency. South
Korea and other Southeast Asian countries also have areas of adzuki bean produc-
tion, but the statistics of the total area are generally unknown.
Due to different cultivation intensity, ecological situations and mechanization
level, the yield of adzuki bean varies considerably. A high yield of between 20–30
mt per ha was observed in Japan and North China, due to advanced breeding
research and mechanization. However, the yield of this crop is much lower in most
of countries or regions, and the production is mainly consumed by local people or
for export under contract farming. It has been said that the annual world production
of adzuki bean is about 800,000 mt (Vaughan et al. 2005), but no official statistics
of world production of adzuki bean are available for recent years.

1.1.3 Nutritional Composition and Uses

The main component of adzuki bean is carbohydrates, accounting for about 40–60%,
even reaching 65.5% (Orsi et al. 2017). Protein ranges from about 15–29% with an
average of 23%, higher than any other major grain crops, and even animal products.
Adzuki bean seed contains B vitamin folate, several mineral elements and negligi-
ble fat (Lin et al. 2002). Aside for the normal nutritional composition, functional
factors have also been identified, such as saponins and general flavone (Liu et al.
2017a, b).
4 L. Wang et al.

Traditionally, adzuki bean has been consumed as a food and is particularly popu-
lar in Asia countries. It is commonly sweetened before eating in East Asian cuisine.
In particular, it is often boiled with sugar, resulting in red bean paste, a very com-
mon ingredient in all kinds of cuisines, including famous Chinese dishes, such as
tangyuan, mooncakes and baozi, and the Japanese dishes, such as anpan, dorayaki,
imagawayaki, manjū, monaka, anmitsu, taiyaki and daifuku. For the whole seeds,
they can be consumed in diverse forms as well, such as mixed congee, ice candy,
canned food, traditional Chinese rice pudding and Chinese bread, after being boiled.
Puffed and fried food also use adzuki bean seeds in snack food in Southeast Asia. It
is also traditionally cooked with rice in Japan and rural regions of North China,
especially in scenic spots which attract tourists.
Adzuki bean is also a herbal medicine and traditionally used as a folk remedy in
East Asia. For instance, it is usually used as an unguent by applying the juice and
seed powder on the skin. The leaves are said to reduce fever and the sprouts are used
to avert threatened abortion caused by injury. Adzuki bean is also used for the treat-
ments of diverse diseases in Chinese folk medicine, such as kidney problems, con-
stipation, abscesses, certain tumors and threatened miscarriage. Together with
coarse cereals, adzuki bean is made into porridge for child-bearing women, accord-
ing to the traditional idea that adzuki bean is a warm and blood-tonic food. With
detailed research on the elements of adzuki bean, we believe that functional food to
prevent or cure certain diseases can be developed in the near future (Baracho et al.
2016; Sato et al. 2016; Yao et al. 2015; Zhang and Wang 2016).
In addition to food and medicine, adzuki bean is also planted for fodder or green
manure in regions of prosperous animal husbandry, and for soil conservation to
ameliorate soil structure disorders.

1.1.4 Taxonomy and Biological Characteristics

Adzuki bean, a self-pollinating diploid legume with 2n = 22 chromosomes, together


with mung bean, rice bean and black gram, belongs to the genus Vigna, subgenus
Cerototrapis (Tomooka et al. 2002). Cultivated adzuki bean is a legume crop which
has spread to many countries as mentioned above. Most of cultivated landraces are
prostrate, but modern breeding cultivars are erect with a plant height 30–60 cm.
Adzuki bean has two wild forms, wild and weedy. Wild adzuki bean has a wide
distribution, including East Asia and Southeast Asia, especially the Himalayan
Region (Tomooka et al. 2002). Wild forms are twinning herbs with slender stems
and indeterminate growth habit. Weedy adzuki bean mainly occurs in Eastern Nepal
and around, and in appearance is always between wild and cultivated types.
Adzuki bean seed takes at least a week to produce seedlings, slower than other
Vigna crops. The emergence of the seedlings is hypogeal, different from mung bean
or black gram. Usually it has classical pinnate compound leaf with three ovate or
narrowly lobed leaflets, except for the first two simple and opposite leaves without
petioles. Some germplasm has anthocyanidin coloration in the stem and petiole,
making them appear somewhat purple, a trait which has been used as a character for
1 Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding 5

varieties. Papilionaceous flowers are golden or pale yellow, surrounded by 10 sta-


mens and 1 pistil. The natural cross-pollination among adzuki bean is quite low. For
cultivated adzuki bean, most of mature pods are yellow, yellow-white, brown or
black with 4–12 seeds (Fig. 1.1). The seed weight varies from 5–20 g per 100 seeds
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adzuki_bean). Seed coats of wild forms are always
brown, black or mottled, while for cultivated types, red or dark red seeds are com-
mon, and some accessions have green, yellow, black or dotted seeds (Fig. 1.2).

1.1.5 Domestication

Historical documents, carbonized seeds and starch granules from tombs provide
evidence that China has a long history of adzuki bean planting, dating back about
2000 years (Zong et al. 2003a, b). Therefore, China is considered to be where the
domestication of adzuki bean first took place (Lin et al. 2002). However, carbonized
adzuki bean seeds found from archaeological sites in Japan suggest a planting his-
tory of over 3000 years (Yano et al. 2004). Based on recent genome sequence analy-
sis, the genetic differentiation between wild and cultivated adzuki bean occurred

Fig. 1.1 Color of mature pods of cultivated adzuki bean. (Photo courtesy of Qingsheng Cai 2012)
6 L. Wang et al.

Fig. 1.2 Color of seed


coats of cultivated adzuki
bean. (Photo courtesy of
Lixia Wang 2017)
1 Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding 7

around 50,000 years ago (Kang et al. 2015), much earlier than what is estimated by
archaeologists (Crawford 2006; Lee 2012), indicating a longer planting history of
this crop. It is not yet known precisely where adzuki bean was first domesticated,
although single or multiple domestication origins have been suggested (Kaga et al.
2008; Lee 2012; Yamaguchi 1992).
It is generally presumed that the wild ancestor of cultivated adzuki bean is Vigna
angularis var. nipponensis, which is widely distributed in East Asia and Southeast
Asia countries, including China, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Bhutan and the Himalayan
Region (Kaga et al. 2008; Yamaguchi 1992). Another wild form of adzuki bean, V.
nepalensis, only occurs in the southern foothills of the Himalayan mountainous
regions (Tateishi and Maxted 2002), which has been called the adzuki bean complex,
together with cultivated adzuki bean and V. angularis var. nipponensis (Tomooka
et al. 2005). Except for cultivated and wild adzuki bean, there is a frequent and stable
existence of an intermediate weedy form with an appearance between the wild and
cultivated plants, mainly found in Japan (Tomooka et al. 2002; Vaughan et al. 2005),
and which is a classical character for the origin place of the species. With the release
of the whole genome sequences (Kang et al. 2015; Yang et al. 2015; Sakai et al.
2016) and the following extensive research on the different forms of adzuki bean,
more information on the origin or domestication of this crop may be expected.

1.2 Conservation and Genetic Diversity

1.2.1 Germplasm Collection and Conservation

Since the end of the last century, many countries have shown interest in collecting
adzuki bean germplasm to evaluate its diversity, and for the establishment of core
collections (Frankel and Brown 1984). Efforts have been made on the germplasm
collection of adzuki bean, including wild forms. Their seeds are conserved in differ-
ent gene banks (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 the main gene banks conserving adzuki bean collections
Number of
Genebank Country accessions
Institute of Crop Sciences, CAAS China 5500 (a few wild
forms)
Hokkaido Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station Japan 3600
Genetic Resources Division, Rural Development Korea 3200 (a few wild
Administration forms)
Genetic Resources Center, National Agriculture and Food Japan 1900 (some wild
Research Organization forms)
National Plant Germplasm System USA 660
Australia Plant Genetic Resources System 400
Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center Thailand 150
8 L. Wang et al.

Over 5000 collections are held in China; 98% are landraces collected within the
country, while 2% were introduced from other countries (Hu et al. 1996; Zheng
1987, 1990). In recent years, wild adzuki bean has been observed and collected in
several Chinese provinces, but extensive evaluations have not yet been performed.
Korea ranks second in conserving over 3000 accessions and some of them have had
detailed phenotypic evaluation (Yoon et al. 2012), while the scientists at the Asian
Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) and in Japan have also col-
lected a large number of accessions. The largest number of wild and weedy adzuki
bean is conserved in Japan as well, and the genetic differentiation or divergence
among them investigated by assessment of their hybrid affinity and comparative
mapping (Kaga et al. 2008). In addition, there are some adzuki beans conserved in
Europe and the Americas. These are derived from collecting expeditions in Asian
countries or from introductions. For example, about 660 accessions of adzuki bean
are conserved in the USA, most of them introduced from Korea, Japan and China
(https://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/aboutgrin.html#).
In situ conservation is complementary to ex situ conservation, and has been used
in many species, especially for wild forms (N’Danikou et al. 2015). However, peo-
ple are less aware of taking actions to protect adzuki bean or its wild forms in situ,
mainly because adzuki bean is a fairly minor crop species that can easily set seeds
(Tomooka et al. 2002). Because in situ conservation allows for continued evolution
of genetic resources in their natural environment, and be helpful for genetic studies
of evolution and new gene mining (Takahashi et al. 2016), it should be taken seri-
ously where wild adzuki beans occur at a high density or exhibit high diversity.

1.2.2 Genetic Diversity and Characterization

Investigation of genetic differentiations among different forms of adzuki bean


germplasm will be helpful in understanding the origin of adzuki bean, and to design
breeding programs. Previous studies showed that both wild and weedy forms have
higher genetic variations than cultivated forms (Mimura et al. 2000; Wang et al.
2011; Yoon et al. 2007) and adzuki bean in the Himalayan Region has a higher
diversity than elsewhere (Zong et al. 2003b). The weedy form is a special genotype,
which can be more easily used in breeding programs than the wild forms (Xu et al.
2000). DNA molecular markers also revealed that there is a 1% natural hybridiza-
tion between wild and cultivated adzuki beans and the gene flow is stably inherit-
able (Yamamoto et al. 2006).
Distinct genetic distance between cultivated adzuki bean from different regions
have been observed, indicating that cultivated adzuki bean is derived from different
ancestors, and somewhat supports the theory that cultivated adzuki bean has multi-
ple origins. In addition, adzuki beans from China, Japan and Korea, have closer
genetic backgrounds than with those from the Himalayan Region, indicating adzuki
bean from these three countries may have evolved from common ancestors (Zong
et al. 2003a, b) (Fig. 1.3). Translocation of chromosomes in wild genotypes from a
1 Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding 9

Fig. 1.3 A neighbor-joining tree based on pairwise distance using Innan’s uncleotide diversity
data (showing evolutionary groups). (Source: Zong et al. 2003a)

certain region of Japan was observed in recent work, which might provide informa-
tion for evolutionary studies (Wang et al. 2015). The compatibility between differ-
ent forms indicates that the elite genes in the wild could be easily used in modern
breeding programs, while the genetic variations/differentiation among them will be
helpful for their genetic and evolution study.
Considerable research has been done on the genetic diversity among cultivated
adzuki beans. Although a high level of variations occurs in agronomic traits (Bai
et al. 2014; Liu et al. 2009; Redden et al. 2009; Xu et al. 2008a), a fairly low diver-
sity based on DNA molecular markers was observed (Wang et al. 2009a, b; Xu et al.
2008b; Yee et al. 1999). This is why most of the combinations used for map con-
struction were derived from cultivated adzuki bean and its wild relatives.

1.3 Pests and Disease

Adzuki bean can be affected by a wide range of insects, including nematode pests.
It has been reported that a total of 16 common insects attack adzuki bean in Japan.
The weevil, Callosobruchus chinensis, also called a bruchid, is the most serious
and destructive pest of adzuki bean and its related crops in East Asia (Fernandez and
Talekar 1990). Bruchid damage occurs from the field to the storage room by the
10 L. Wang et al.

insect laying eggs on the seeds which then develop in the seeds. The weevil has a
very short life cycle, usually four or more generations within one year (Liu et al.
1998), and one female weevil can lay hundreds of eggs in her lifetime, leading to
rapid spread and heavy damage. People use chemicals for fumigation or physical
methods, such as sun basking, to prevent damage. Although biological control is
very safe and fast, the efficacy needs to be improved. Flower thrips and aphids are
two other serious pests which can spread quickly. Flower thrips damages flowers
preventing pollination or pod development. Aphids not only attack the young tender
tissue, including stems, leaves and flowers or pods, but is the vector for diverse
viruses. They can reach a high population in areas of suitable climate. Nematode
attacks, leading to dwarf plants and fewer pods, has been observed in northern
China, but are not usually serious in terms of production.
Earlier reporting suggests that two major diseases afflict adzuki bean in Japan:
brown stem rot (Phialophora gregata Gams) and mosaic virus (Kim et al. 2014;
Takahashi et al. 1998). Later studies found that brown stem rot is caused by the
fungus Phytophthora vignae f. sp. adzikucola, first observed in Hokkaido, Japan
50 years ago and subsequently in Korea (Han et al. 1982; Kitazawa et al. 1978).
High humidity will hasten the occurrence of stem rot. Mosaic virus also brings a
certain yield loss, leading to dwarf plant and leaf atrophy. It can be prevented by
using certain chemicals at the early stage, but finding resistant varieties is the best
economic and most efficient solution for mosaic virus and other diseases and pests.
The common diseases on adzuki bean in China are powdery mildew, stem rot,
mosaic virus and bacterial blight, but if the climate remains normal, these diseases
are not serious and do not result in heavy loss of production with the use of chemical
controls. However, if drought, waterlogging or high temperature occurs, both dis-
eases and pests become worse.

1.4 Cultivation Limitations and Breeding Objectives

Adzuki bean is the second most important legume crop in Japan and both cultivation
technology and breeding are much advanced. The cultivation of this crop is fully
mechanized owing to the great successes in breeding (Jin 1994). All the breeding
cultivars are erect with a high bottom pod, and lodging-resistant and suitable for
mechanized harvest. However, as the main production area in Japan is in Hokkaido,
the northern part of the country, where cold snaps occur irregularly, together with
continuous cropping and frequent natural disasters, this leads to serious outbreaks
of diseases, such as stem or root rot that can infect the soil. The present breeding
objectives mainly focus on resistance to cold and diseases. In addition, since the
usage of adzuki bean in Japan is as sweetened bean paste, a thin seed coat suitable
for processing and appropriate starch granule size for good taste is desirable.
Most adzuki beans are cultivated under semi-mechanization in northern China,
and segment harvesting is done by cutting machines and threshers modified from
other crops are popular. In the other production areas, no mechanized operations are
1 Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding 11

Fig. 1.4 Growth variation


exhibiting abnormal
development of flower
buds of adzuki bean,
Baoding, China, 2012.
(Photo courtesy of Lixia
Wang 2011)

applied, leading to a higher cultivation cost and lower economic return. This situa-
tion mainly exists with small-scale cultivation systems which preclude mechanized
operations. Therefore, the breeding objectives for the past decades have been for
high yield, erect plants and early maturing, for labor saving and income improve-
ment (Cheng and Wang 2009; Tian et al. 2004).
Changes in the agriculture structure in China, such as rural land transfer and in
the crops cultivated, especially minor crops, have reached a substantial scale, such
that the government has offered special financial support to improve the levels of
mechanization. Therefore, new varieties of adzuki bean with characters suitable for
mechanized operations are in urgent need. In addition, with the climatic fluctuations
in recent decades attributed to climate change, such as drought, flood and high tem-
perature, cultivars with resistance to natural disasters should also be developed. For
example, we observed an abnormal development of flower buds at Baoding, China
in 2012, where most of the adzuki bean flower buds developed into leaflets, leading
to a complete loss for the season (Fig. 1.4). Another abnormal phenomenon was
found at Shijiazhuang, China in 2018, where the entire plants of some varieties were
yellow in color from the seedling stage, leading to a heavy decrease in yield
(Fig. 1.5). The exact cause of these abnormalities is not known but is suspected to
be related to climate change.
In Korea, there is almost no mechanization of adzuki bean cultivation and farm-
ers sometimes harvest adzuki bean by segment harvesting using cutting machines
and threshers. The breeding programs focus almost exclusively on the early matu-
rity, disease resistance, high yield and good quality.

1.5 Conventional Breeding

Most historic and current varieties of adzuki bean were developed by pedigree
selection and hybridization. Pedigree selection was performed from a very early
stage in Japan. A series of famous large-seeded and early-maturing cultivars were
12 L. Wang et al.

Fig. 1.5 Abnormal


yellowing appearance of
the entire plant of adzuki
bean, Shijiazhuang, China,
2018. (Photo courtesy of
Lixia Wang 2018)

developed, such as Toyomi dainagonn and Akane dainagonn. Hybridization was


then used as the main method in adzuki breeding program for a long period, espe-
cially at the Hokkaido Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station, which was des-
ignated as the national breeding center of Japan in the middle of the last century.
Erimo syouzu, with high yield, cold tolerance and good bean quality, is the most
widely planted cultivar in Japan. For resistance breeding, scientists also obtained
great results. For example, cultivars resistant to brown stem rot were released at the
end of last century (Fujita 2007) and Yeonkeum, a cultivar with green seed, is
reported to be resistant to mosaic virus (Moon et al. 2006).
From the Records of Chinese Food Legumes Cultivars (Cheng and Wang 2009),
we know that the formal breeding on adzuki bean began from the end of the 1970s
in China, following the nationwide collection of genetic resources. It took a long
period of time for the breeding methods to change from pedigree selection to
hybridization. Early registered cultivars, such as Zaohong 1, Zhonghong 3 and
Jingnong 2 were all selected from local landraces, while Pinhong Youzi 961 and
Pinhong Youzi 962 were selected from the introduced adzuki bean from Japan at the
end of the twentieth century. The most efficiently used parents for hybridization in
adzuki bean are cvs. Akane dainagonn and Taiseikou; cvs. Jihongxiaodou 4 and
Jihong 8937 are examples of such hybrids. As adzuki bean is light and temperature
sensitive, many locally-adapted cultivars, such as Baihong 1, Jingnong 5, Pinhong
Youzi 611 and Jinxiaodou 1, showing a good erect growth habitat, were developed
and released (Fig. 1.6). In total, about 100 varieties have been released in China so
far, and one-half of those were hybrids using genetic material from Japanese culti-
vars (Cheng and Wang 2009; Wang et al. 2009a, b).
1 Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding 13

Fig. 1.6 The appearance of different local varieties. (Qinsheng Cai 2012)
14 L. Wang et al.

Adzuki bean breeding in Korea has also recorded achievements; for example,
Seagil, a landrace, is specially used to make New Year cakes. Chilbo cv., developed
using hybridization, is black-seeded and high-yielding, while Kyungwon cv. is
early-maturing and lodging-resistant (http://genebank.rda.go.kr/eng/EgovPageLink.
do). The major cultivars in China, Japan and Korea, with their important traits, are
listed in Appendix II.

1.6 Biotechnology

1.6.1 Genetic Map and Gene Cloning

Similar to other Vigna crop plants, genetic studies of adzuki bean are lagging behind,
including the construction of genetic maps and gene mapping. The reasons for this
may be: first, low genetic variation makes it difficult to obtain more polymorphic
markers (Kaga et al. 1996, 2000) or second, adzuki bean is a minor crop and is not
widely cultivated, compared with other major crops, and hence receives less fund-
ing for breeding research.
Most of the reported genetic maps were constructed using combinations between
cultivated adzuki bean and its wild relatives (Table 1.2). The first map of adzuki
bean was constructed using an F2 population derived from adzuki bean and Vigna
nakashimae with only 132 markers mapped (Kaga et al. 1996). The map (Fig. 1.7)
was constructed based on a cross between adzuki bean and rice bean with 188 mark-
ers (Kaga et al. 2000). Both maps consisted of 14 linkage groups. With the develop-
ment of microsatellite markers, the number of linkage groups reached 11, in
agreement with the number of chromosomes, and the density of the genetic map is
much higher with an average distance between markers of 1.85 cM (Han et al.
2005). The latter two sets of maps were also constructed mainly using SSR markers
with a fairly low density (Isemura et al. 2007; Kaga et al. 2008). From the density
of maps, slow progress on the genetic study of adzuki bean can be seen. An SNP
map, consisting of 2032 markers, was constructed using a RIL population derived
from adzuki bean and V. nipponensis. The density of this map is much higher than
those in earlier reports, but the application and detection of SNPs were quite com-
plicated and costly. Thus, more polymorphic PCR-based markers are needed that
could be simply tested using gel analysis.
Bruchid resistant genes were analyzed in adzuki bean using a population derived
from adzuki bean and Vigna nepalensis and relative QTLs were identified (Somta
et al. 2008), but no further study has yet been published. Using a similar combina-
tion, traits related to domestication were mapped as well, and the results showed
that these traits always clustered together on the chromosomes (Isemura et al. 2007).
Although both the map construction and gene mapping are lagging, there are reports
of gene isolation of adzuki bean. For example, genes controlling the synthesis of
starch (Peterbauer et al. 1999), coding abscisic acid-specific glucosyltransferase
(Xu et al. 2002) and resistance to bruchids (Chen et al. 2005) or mosaic virus (Chen
et al. 2009), have been cloned and analyzed.
1

Table 1.2 Description of the published genetic maps of adzuki bean


Number of
Population Population Number of linkage
Combination type size Marker type markers groups Total length References
Vigna angularis× F2 80 RAPD, RFLP, 132 14 1250 cM Kaga et al. (1996)
V. nakashimae morphological marker
V. angularis× V. F2 86 RAPD, RFLP, 189 14 1702 cM Kaga et al. (2000)
umbellata morphological marker
V. nepalensis× V. BC1F1 187 SSR, AFLP, RFLP 486 11 832.1 cM Han et al. (2005)
angularis
V. nipponensis× V. F2 188 SSR, STS, CAPS, SCAR, 233 10 771.9 cM Kaga et al. (2008)
angularis AFLP, morphological
marker
V. nepalensis× V. F2 141 SSR 74 11 649.7 cM Isemura et al. (2007)
angularis
V. nipponensis× V. RIL8 153 SLAF 2032 11 1628.15 cM Liu et al. (2016)
Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) Breeding

angularis
15
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
apprentice warrior was so full of grace, his steed so full of fire, and
both so eminently beautiful, that James was lost in admiration. But
suddenly, as the youth bent forward to present his master’s device,
his spur pricked the flank of his charger, and the latter, with a bound
and a plunge, threw his rider out of the saddle, and flung young Carr
of Fernyhurst, at the feet of his ex-master, the King. The latter
recognised his old page, and made amends for the broken leg got in
the fall, by nursing the lad, and making him Viscount Rochester, as
soon as he was well. James created him knight of the Garter, and
taught him grammar. Rochester gave lessons to the King in foreign
history. The ill-favored King walked about the court with his arms
round the neck of the well-favored knight. He was for ever either
gazing at him or kissing him; trussing his points, settling his curls, or
smoothing his hose. When Rochester was out of the King’s sight
James was mindful of him, and confiscated the estates of honest
men in order to enrich his own new favorite. He took Sherborne from
the widow and children of Raleigh, with the cold-blooded remark to
the kneeling lady, “I maun have it for Carr!”
Rochester was a knight who ruled the King, but there was another
knight who ruled Rochester. This was the well-born, hot-headed,
able and vicious Sir Thomas Overbury. Overbury polished and
polluted the mind of Rochester; read all documents which passed
through the hands of the latter, preparatory to reaching those of the
King, and not only penned Rochester’s own despatches, but
composed his love-letters for him. How pointedly Sir Thomas could
write may be seen in his “Characters;” and as a poet, the knight was
of no indifferent reputation in his day.
Rochester, Sir Thomas, and the King, were at the very height of their
too-warm friendship, when James gave Frances Howard, the
daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, in marriage to young Devereux, Earl
of Essex. The bride was just in her teens. The bridegroom was a day
older. The Bishop of Bath and Wells blessed them in the presence of
the King, and Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones constructed a masque in
honor of the occasion. When the curtain fell, bride and bridegroom
went their separate ways; the first to her mother; the second to
school. Four years elapsed ere they again met; and then Frances,
who had been ill-trained by her mother, seduced by Prince Henry,
and wooed by Rochester, looked upon Essex with infinite scorn.
Essex turned from her with disgust.
Rochester then resolved to marry Frances, and Frances employed
the poisoner of Paternoster-row, Mrs. Turner, and a certain Dr.
Forman, to prepare philters that should make more ardent the flame
of the lover, and excite increased aversion in the breast of the
husband. Overbury, with intense energy, opposed the idea of the
guilty pair, that a divorce from Essex was likely to be procured. He
even spoke of the infamy of the lady, to her lover. Frances,
thereupon, offered a thousand pounds to a needy knight, Sir John
Ward, to slay Overbury in a duel. Sir John declined the offer. A more
successful method was adopted. Sir Thomas Overbury was
appointed embassador to Russia, and on his refusing to accept the
sentence of banishment, he was clapped into the tower as guilty of
contempt toward the king. In that prison, the literary knight was duly
despatched by slow poison. The guilt was brought home less to
Rochester than to Frances, but the King himself appears to have
been very well content at the issue.
James united with Rochester and the lady to procure a divorce
between the latter and Essex. The King was bribed by a sum of
£25,000. Essex himself did not appear. Every ecclesiastical judge
was recompensed who pronounced for the divorce—carried by
seven against five, and even the son of one of them was knighted.
This was the heir of Dr. Bilson, Bishop of Winchester, and he was
ever afterward known by the name of Sir Nullity Bilson.
Sir Nullity danced at the wedding of the famous or infamous pair;
and never was wedding more splendid. King, peers, and illustrious
commoners graced it with their presence. The diocesan of Bath and
Wells pronounced the benediction. The Dean of St. Paul’s wrote for
the occasion an epithalamic eclogue. The Dean of Westminster
supplied the sermon. The great Bacon composed, in honor of the
event, the “Masque of Flowers;” and the City made itself bankrupt by
the extravagant splendor of its fêtes. One gentleman horsed the
bride’s carriage, a bishop’s lady made the bride’s cake, and one
humorous sycophant offered the married pair the equivocal gift of a
gold warming-pan.
The King, not to be behindhand in distributing honors, conferred one
which cost him nothing. He created Rochester Earl of Somerset.
Two years after this joyous wedding, the gentleman who had made a
present to the bride, of four horses to draw her in a gilded chariot to
the nuptial altar, had become a knight and secretary of state. Sir
Richard (or, as some call him, Sir Robert) Winwood was a
worshipper of the now rising favorite, Villiers; and none knew better
than this newly-made knight that the King was utterly weary of his
old favorite, Somerset.
Winwood waited on the King and informed him that a garrulous
young apothecary at Flushing, who had studied the use of drugs
under Dr. Franklin of London, was making that melancholy town
quite lively, by his stories of the abuses of drugs, and the method in
which they had been employed by Lord and Lady Somerset, Mrs.
Turner (a pretty woman, who invented yellow starched ruffs) and
their accomplices, in bringing about the death of Overbury. The food
conveyed to the latter was poisoned by Frances and her lover,
outside the tower, and was administered to the imprisoned knight by
officials within the walls, who were bribed for the purpose.
There is inextricable confusion in the details of the extraordinary trial
which ensued. It is impossible to read them without the conviction
that some one higher in rank than the Somersets was interested, if
not actually concerned, in the death of Overbury. The smaller
personages were hanged, and Mrs. Turner put yellow ruffs out of
fashion by wearing them at the gallows.
Lady Somerset pleaded guilty, evidently under the influence of a
promise of pardon, if she did so, and of fear lest Bacon’s already
prepared speech, had she pleaded not guilty, might send her to an
ignominious death. She was confined in the Tower, and she implored
with frantic energy, that she might not be shut up in the room which
had been occupied by Overbury.
Somerset appeared before his judges in a solemn suit, and wearing
the insignia of the Garter. He pleaded not guilty, but despite
insufficiency of legal evidence he was convicted, and formally
condemned to be hanged, like any common malefactor. But the ex-
page won his life by his taciturnity. Had he, in his defence, or
afterward, revealed anything that could have displeased or disturbed
the King, his life would have paid the forfeit. As it was, the King at
once ordered that the Earl’s heraldic arms as knight of the Garter
should not be taken down. For the short period of the imprisonment
of the guilty pair, both guilty of many crimes, although in the matter of
Overbury there is some doubt as to the extent of the Earl’s
complicity, they separately enjoyed the “Liberty of the Tower.” The
fallen favorite was wont to pace the melancholy ramparts with the
George and collar round his neck and the Garter of knighthood
below his knee. He was often seen in grave converse with the Earl of
Northumberland. Sometimes, the guilty wife of Somerset, impelled
by curiosity or affection, would venture to gaze at him for a minute or
two from her lattice, and then, if the Earl saw her, he would turn,
gravely salute her, and straightway pass on in silence.
When liberated from the Tower, the knight of the Garter, convicted of
murder, and his wife, confessedly guilty, went forth together under
protection of a royal pardon. Down to the time of the death of Lady
Somerset, in 1632, the wretched pair are said never to have opened
their lips but to express, each hatred and execration of the other. The
earl lived on till 1645—long enough to see the first husband of his
wife carry his banner triumphantly against the son of James, at
Edgehill. The two husbands of one wife died within a few months of
each other.
Such was the career of one who began life as a page. Let us
contrast therewith the early career of one whose name is still more
familiar to the general reader.
Toward the middle of the sixteenth century there was established at
York a respectable and influential Protestant family of the name of
Fawkes. Some of the members were in the legal profession, others
were merchants. One was registrar and advocate of the Consistory
Court of the cathedral church of York. Another was notary and
proctor. A third is spoken of as a merchant-stapler. All were well to-
do; but not one of them dreamed that the name of Fawkes was to be
in the least degree famous.
The Christian name of the ecclesiastical lawyer was Edward. He was
the third son of William and Ellen Fawkes, and was the favorite child
of his mother. She bequeathed trinkets, small sums, and odd bits of
furniture to her other children, but to Edward she left her wedding
suit, and the residue of her estate. Edward Fawkes was married
when his mother made her will. While the document was preparing,
his wife Edith held in her arms an infant boy. To this boy she left her
“best whistle, and one old angel of gold.”
The will itself is a curious document. It is devotional, according to the
good custom of the days in which it was made. The worthy old
testator made some singular bequests; to her son Thomas, amid a
miscellaneous lot, she specifies, “my second petticoat, my worsted
gowne, gardit with velvet, and a damask kirtle.” The “best kirtle and
best petticoat” are bequeathed to her daughter-in-law Edith Fawkes.
Among the legatees is a certain John (who surely must have been a
Joan) Sheerecrofte, to whom, says Mistress Fawkes, “I leave my
petticoat fringed about, my woorse grogram kirtle, one of my lynn
smockes, and a damask upper bodie.” The sex, however, of the
legatee is not to be doubted, for another gentleman in Mrs. Fawkes’s
will comes in for one of her bonnets!
The amount of linen bequeathed, speaks well for the lady’s
housewifery; while the hats, kirtles, and rings, lead us to fear that the
wife of Master Edward Fawkes must have occasionally startled her
husband with the amount of little accounts presented to him by
importunate dressmakers, milliners, and jewellers. Such, however,
was the will of a lady of York three centuries ago, and the child in
arms who was to have the silver whistle and a gold angel was none
other than our old acquaintance, known to us as Guy Faux.
Guy was christened on the sixteenth of April, 1570, in the still
existing church of St. Michael le Belfry; and when the gossips and
sponsors met round the hospitable table of the paternal lawyer to
celebrate the christening of his son, the health of Master Guy
followed hard upon that of her gracious highness the queen.
Master Guy had the misfortune to lose his father in his ninth year.
“He left me but small living,” said Guy, many years afterward, “and I
spent it.” After his sire’s decease, Guy was for some years a pupil at
the free foundation grammar-school in “the Horse Fayre,” adjacent to
York. There he accomplished his humanities under the Reverend
Edward Pulleyne. Among his schoolfellows were Bishop Morton,
subsequently Bishop of Durham, and a quiet little boy, named
Cheke, who came to be a knight and baronet, and who, very
probably went, in after-days, to see his old comrade in the hands of
the hangman.
Some seventeen miles from York stands the pleasant town of
Knaresborough, and not far from Knaresborough is the village of
Scotten. When Guy was yet a boy, there lived in this village a very
gay, seductive wooer, named Dennis Baynbridge. This wooer was
wont to visit the widowed Edith, and the result of his visits was that
the widowed Edith rather hastily put away her weeds, assumed a
bridal attire, married the irresistible Dennis, and, with her two
daughters, Anne and Elizabeth, and her only son Guy, accompanied
her new husband to his residence at Scotten.
Baynbridge was a Roman Catholic, as also were the Pullens,
Percies, Winters, Wrights, and others who lived in Scotten or its
neighborhood, and whose names figure in the story of the
Gunpowder Plot.
At Scotten, then, and probably soon after his mother’s marriage, in
1582, Guy, it may be safely said, left the faith in which he had been
baptized, for that of the Romish Church. Had he declined to adopt
the creed of his step-sire, he perhaps would have been allowed but
few opportunities of angling in the Nidd, rabbiting by Bilton Banks,
nutting in Goldsborough Wood, or of passing idle holydays on
Grimbald Craig.
On the wedding-day of Edith Fawkes and Dennis Baynbridge, the
paternal uncle of Guy made his will. He exhibited his sense of the
step taken by the lady, by omitting her name from the will, and by
bequeathing the bulk of his property to the two sisters of Guy. To
Guy himself, Uncle Thomas left only “a gold ring,” and a “bed and
one pair of sheets, with the appurtenances.”
When Guy became of age, he found himself in possession of his
patrimony—some land and a farm-house. The latter, with two or
three acres of land, he let to a tailor, named Lumley, for the term of
twenty-one years, at the annual rent of forty-two shillings. The
remainder he sold at once for a trifle less than thirty pounds. Shortly
after, he made over to a purchaser all that was left of his property.
He bethought himself for a while as to what course he should take,
and finally he chose the profession of arms, and went out to Spain,
to break crowns and to win spurs.
In Spain, he fell into evil company and evil manners. He saw enough
of hard fighting, and indulged, more than enough, in hard drinking.
He was wild, almost savage of temper, and he never rose to a
command which gave him any chance of gaining admission on the
roll of chivalry. There was a knight, however, named Catesby, who
was a comrade of Guy, and the latter clung to him as a means
whereby to become as great as that to which he clung.
Guy bore himself gallantly in Spain; and, subsequently, in Flanders,
he fought with such distinguished valor, that when Catesby and his
associates in England were considering where they might find the
particular champion whom they needed for their particular purpose in
the Gunpowder Plot, the thought of the reckless soldier flashed
across the mind of Catesby, and Guy was at once looked after as the
“very properest man” for a very improper service.
The messenger who was despatched to Flanders to sound Guy,
found the latter eager to undertake the perilous mission of destroying
king and parliament, and thereby helping Rome to lord it again in
England. The English soldier in Flanders came over to London, put
up at an inn, which occupied a site not very distant from that of the
once well-known “Angel” in St. Clement’s Danes, and made a gay
figure in the open Strand, till he was prepared to consummate a work
which he thought would help himself to greatness.
Into the matter of the plot I will not enter. It must be observed,
however, that knight never went more coolly to look death in the face
than Guy went to blow up the Protestant king and the parliament. At
the same time it must be added, that Guy had not the slightest
intention of hoisting himself with his own petard. He ran a very great
risk, it is true, and he did it fearlessly; but the fact that both a carriage
and a boat were in waiting to facilitate his escape, shows that self-
sacrifice was not the object of the son of the York proctor. His great
ambition was to rank among knights and nobles. He took but an ill-
method to arrive at such an object; but his reverence for nobility was
seen even when he was very near to his violent end. If he was ever
a hero, it was when certain death by process of law was before him.
But even then it was his boast and solace, that throughout the affair
there was not a man employed, even to handle a spade, in
furtherance of the end in view, who was not a gentleman. Guy died
under the perfect conviction that he had done nothing derogatory to
his quality!
Considering how dramatic are the respective stories of the page and
squire, briefly noticed above, it is remarkable that so little use has
been made of them by dramatists. Savage is the only one who has
dramatized the story of the two knights, Somerset and Overbury. In
this tragedy bearing the latter knight’s name, and produced at the
Haymarket, in June, 1723, he himself played the hero, Sir Thomas.
His attempt to be an actor, and thus gain an honest livelihood by his
industry, was the only act of his life of which Savage was ever
ashamed. In this piece the only guilty persons are the countess and
her uncle, the Earl of Northampton. This is in accordance with the
once-prevailing idea that Northampton planned the murder of Sir
Thomas, in his residence, which occupied the site of the present
Northumberland house. The play was not successful, and the same
may be said of it when revived, with alterations, at Covent Garden, in
1777. Sheridan, the actor, furnished the prologue. In this production
he expressed his belief that the public generally felt little interest in
the fate of knights and kings. The reason he assigns is hardly logical.

“Too great for pity, they inspire respect,


Their deeds astonish rather than affect.
Proving how rare the heart that we can move,
Which reason tells us we can never prove.”

Guy Faux, who, when in Spain, was the ’squire of the higher-born
Catesby, has inspired but few dramatic writers. I only know of two. In
Mrs. Crouch’s memoirs, notice is made of an afterpiece, brought out
on the 5th of November, 1793, at the Haymarket. A far more
creditable attempt to dramatize the story of Guy Fawkes was made
with great success at the Coburg (Victoria) theatre, in September,
1822. This piece still keeps possession of the minor stage, and
deservedly; but it has never been played with such effect as by its
first “cast.” O. Smith was the Guy, and since he had played the
famous Obi, so well as to cause Charles Kemble’s impersonation at
the Haymarket to be forgotten, he had never been fitted with a
character which suited him so admirably. It was one of the most
truthful personations which the stage had ever seen. Indeed the
piece was played by such a troop of actors as can not now be found
in theatres of more pretensions than the transpontine houses. The
chivalric Huntley, very like the chivalric Leigh Murray, in more
respects than one, enacted Tresham with a rare ability, and judicious
Chapman played Catesby with a good taste, which is not to be found
now in the same locality. Dashing Stanley was the Monteagle, and
graceful Howell the Percy, Beverly and Sloman gave rough portraits
of the king and the facetious knight, Sir Tristam Collywobble—coarse
but effective. Smith, however, was the soul of the piece, and Mr.
Fawkes, of Farnley, might have witnessed the representation, and
have been proud of his descent from the dignified hero that O. Smith
made of his ancestor.
I have given samples of knights of various qualities, but I have yet to
mention the scholar and poet knights. There are many personages
who would serve to illustrate the knight so qualified, but I know of
none so suitable as Ulrich Von Hutten.
ULRICH VON HUTTEN.
“Jacta est alea.”—Ulrich’s Device.

Ulrich von Hutten was born on the 21st of April, 1488, in the
castle of Stackelberg, near Fulda, in Franconia. He was of a noble
family—all the men of which were brave, and all the women virtuous.
He had three brothers and two sisters. His tender mother loved him
the most, because he was the weakest of her offspring. His father
loved him the least for the same reason. For a like cause, however,
both parents agreed that a spiritual education best accorded with the
frame of Ulrich. The latter, at eleven years old, was accordingly sent
to learn his humanities in the abbey school at Fulda.
His progress in all knowledge, religious and secular, made him the
delight of the stern abbot and of his parents. Every effort possible
was resorted to, to induce him to devote himself for ever to the life of
the cloister. In his zealous opposition to this he was ably seconded
by a strong-handed and high-minded knight, a friend of his father’s
named Eitelwolf von Stein. This opposition so far succeeded, that in
1504, when Ulrich was sixteen years of age he fled from the cloister-
academy of Fulda, and betook himself to the noted high-school at
Erfurt.
Among his dearest fellow Alumni here were Rubianus and Hoff, both
of whom subsequently achieved great renown. In the Augustine
convent, near the school, there was residing a poor young monk,
who also subsequently became somewhat famous. Nobody,
however, took much account of him just then, and few even cared to
know his name—Martin Luther. The plague breaking out at Erfurt,
Rubianus was accompanied by Ulrich to Cologne, there to pursue
their studies. The heart and purse of Ulrich’s father were closed
against the son, because of his flight from Fulda; but his kinsman
Eitelwolf, provided for the necessities of the rather imprudent young
scholar.
The sages who trained the young idea at Cologne were of the old
high and dry quality—hating progress and laboriously learned in
trifles. At the head of them were Hogstraten and Ortuin. Ulrich
learned enough of their manner to be able to crush them afterward
with ridicule, by imitating their style, and reproducing their gigantic
nonsense, in the famous “Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum.” In the
meantime he knit close friendship with Sebastian Brandt, and
Œcolampadius—both young men of progress. The latter was
expelled from Cologne for being so, but the University of Frankfort
on the Oder offered him an asylum. Thither Ulrich repaired also, to
be near his friend, and to sharpen his weapons for the coming
struggle between light and darkness—Germany against Rome, and
the German language against the Latin.
At Frankfort he won golden opinions from all sorts of people. The
Elector, Joachim of Brandenburg; his brother, the priestly Margrave
Albert; and Bishop Dietrich von Beilow were proud of the youth who
did honor to the university. He here first became a poet, and took the
brothers Von Osthen for his friends. He labored earnestly, and
acquired much glory; but he was a very free liver to boot, though he
was by no means particularly so, for the times in which he lived. His
excesses, however, brought on a dangerous disease, which, it is
sometimes supposed, had not hitherto been known in Europe. Be
this as it may, he was never wholly free from the malady as long as
he lived, nor ever thought that it much mattered whether he suffered
or not.
He was still ill when he took up for a season the life of a wandering
scholar. He endured all its miserable vicissitudes, suffered famine
and shipwreck, and was glad at last to find a haven, as a poor
student, in the Pomeranian University of Griefswalde. The Professor
Lötz and his father the Burgomaster, were glad to patronize so
renowned a youth, but they did it with such insulting condescension
that the spirit of Ulrich revolted; and in 1509, the wayward scholar
was again a wanderer, with the world before him where to choose.
The Lötzes, who had lent him clothes, despatched men after him to
strip him; and the poor, half-frozen wretch, reached Rostock half
starved, more than half naked, with wounds gaping for vengeance,
and with as little sense about him as could be possessed by a man
so ill-conditioned.
He lived by his wits at Rostock. He was unknown and perfectly
destitute; but he penned so spirited a metrical narrative of his life and
sufferings, addressed to the heads of the university there, that these
at once received him under their protection. In a short time he was
installed in comparative comfort, teaching the classics to young
pupils, and experiencing as much enjoyment as he could,
considering that the Lötzes of Griefswalde were continually assuring
his patrons that their protégé was a worthless impostor.
He took a poet’s revenge, and scourged them in rhymes, the very
ruggedness of which was tantamount to flaying.
Having gained his fill of honor at Rostock, his restless spirit urged
him once again into the world. After much wandering, he settled for a
season at Wittenburg, where he was the delight of the learned men.
By their eleemosynary aid, and that of various friends, save his
father, who rejoiced in his renown but would not help him to live, he
existed after the fashion of many pauper students of his day. At
Wittenburg he wrote his famous “Art of Poetry;” and he had no
sooner raised universal admiration by its production, than forth he
rushed once more into the world.
He wandered through Bohemia and Moravia, thankfully accepting
bread from peasants, and diamond rings from princes. He had not a
maravedi in his purse, nor clean linen on his back; but he made
himself welcome everywhere. One night he slept, thankfully, on the
straw of a barn; and the next sank, well-fed, into the eider-down of a
bishop’s bed. He entered Olmutz ragged, shoeless, and exhausted.
He left it, after enjoying the rich hospitality he had laughingly
extracted from Bishop Turso, on horseback, with a heavy purse in
his belt, a mantle on his shoulder, and a golden ring, with a jewel set
in it, upon his finger. Such were a student’s vicissitudes, in the days
of German wandering, a long time ago.
The boy, for he was not yet twenty years of age, betook himself to
Vienna, where he kept a wide circle in continual rapture by the
excellence of his poetical productions. These productions were not
“all for love,” nor were they all didactic. He poured out war-ballads to
encourage the popular feeling in favor of the Emperor Maximilian,
against his enemies in Germany and Italy. Ulrich was, for the
moment, the Tyrtæus of his native country. Then, suddenly
recollecting that his angry sire had said that if his son would not take
the monk’s cowl, his father would be content to see him assume the
lawyer’s coif, our volatile hero hastened to Pavia, opened the law
books on an ominous 1st of April, 1512, and read them steadily, yet
wearied of them heartily, during just three months.
At this time Francis the first of France, who had seized on Pavia,
was besieged therein by the German and Swiss cavalry. Ulrich was
dangerously ill during the siege, but he occupied the weary time by
writing sharp epitaphs upon himself. The allies entered the city; and
Ulrich straightway departed from it, a charge having been laid
against him of too much partiality for the French. The indignant
German hurried to Bologna, where he once more addressed himself
to the Pandects and the Juris Codices Gentium.
This light reading so worked on his constitution that fever laid him
low, and after illness came destitution. He wrote exquisite verses to
Cardinal Gurk, the imperial embassador in Bologna, where the pope
for the moment resided; but he failed in his object of being raised to
some office in the cardinal’s household. Poor Ulrich took the course
often followed by men of his impulses and condition; he entered the
army as a private soldier, and began the ladder which leads to
knighthood at the lowest round.
Unutterable miseries he endured in this character; but he went
through the siege of Pavia with honor, and he wrote such sparkling
rhymes in celebration of German triumphs and in ridicule of
Germany’s foes, that, when a weakness in the ankles compelled him
to retire from the army, he collected his songs and dedicated them to
the Emperor.
The dedication, however, was so very independent of tone, that
Maximilian took no notice of the limping knight who had exchanged
the sword for the lyre. Indeed, at this juncture, the man who could
wield a sledge-hammer, was in more esteem with the constituted
authorities than he who skilfully used his pen. The young poet could
scarcely win a smile, even from Albert of Brandenburg, to whom he
had dedicated a poem. Sick at heart, his health gave way, and a
heavy fever sent him to recover it at the healing springs in the valley
of Ems.
A short time previous to his entering the army, the young Duke Ulrich
of Wurtemburg had begun to achieve for himself a most unenviable
reputation. He had entered on his government; and he governed his
people ill, and himself worse. He allowed nothing to stand between
his own illustrious purpose and the object aimed at. He had for wife
the gentle Bavarian princess, Sabina, and for friend, young Johan
von Hutten, a cousin of our hero Ulrich.
Now, Johan von Hutten had recently married a fair-haired girl, with
the not very euphonious appellation of Von Thumb. She was,
however, of noble birth, and, we must add, of light principles. The
duke fell in love with her, and she with the duke, and when his friend
Johan remonstrated with him, the ducal sovereign gravely proposed
to the outraged husband an exchange of consorts!
Johan resolved to withdraw from the ducal court; and this resolution
alarmed both his wife and the duke, for Johan had no intention of
leaving his lightsome Von Thumb behind him. Therefore, the duke
invited Johan one fine May morning in the year 1515, to take a
friendly ride with him through a wood. The invitation was accepted,
and as Johan was riding along a narrow path, in front of the duke,
the latter passed his sword through the body of his friend, slaying
him on the spot.
Having thus murdered his friend, the duke hung him up by the neck
in his own girdle to a neighboring tree, and he defended the deed, by
giving out that ducal justice had only been inflicted on a traitor who
had endeavored to seduce the Duchess of Wurtemburg! The lady,
however, immediately fled to her father, denouncing the
faithlessness of her unworthy husband, on whose bosom the young
widow of the murdered Johan now reclined for consolation.
On this compound deed becoming known, all Germany uttered a
unanimous cry of horror. The noblest of the duke’s subjects flung off
their allegiance. His very servants quitted him in disgust. His fellow-
princes invoked justice against him and Ulrich von Hutten, from his
sick couch at Ems, penned eloquent appeals to the German nation,
to rise and crush the ruthless wretch who had quenched in blood, the
life, the light, the hope, the very flower of Teutonic chivalry.
The “Philippics” of Ulrich were mainly instrumental in raising a
terrible Nemesis to take vengeance upon his ducal namesake; and
he afterward wrote his “Phalarismus” to show that the tyrant excited
horror, even in the infernal regions. The opening sentence—“Jacta
est alea!” became his motto; and his family took for its apt device
—“Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor!” From this time forward,
Ulrich von Hutten was a public man, and became one of the
foremost heroes of his heroic age. He was now scholar, poet, and
knight.
His fame would have been a pleasant thing to him, but the pleasure
was temporarily diminished by the death of his old benefactor,
Eitelwolf von Stein. The latter was the first German statesman who
was also a great scholar; and his example first shook the prejudice,
that for a knight or nobleman to be book-learned was derogatory to
his chivalry and nobility. Into the area of public warfare Ulrich now
descended, and the enemies of light trembled before the doughty
champion. The collegiate teachers at Cologne, with Hogstraten, the
Inquisitor, Pfefierkorn, a converted Jew, and Ortuin—at their head,
had directed all the powers of the scholastic prejudices against
Reuchlin and his followers, who had declared, that not only Greek,
but Hebrew should form a portion of the course of study for those
destined to enter the Church. The ancient party pronounced this
Heathenism; Reuchlin and his party called it Reason, and Germany,
was split in two, upon the question.
At the very height of the contest, a lad with a sling and a stone
entered the lists, and so dexterously worked his missiles, that the
enemy of learning was soon overcome. The lad was Von Hutten,
who, as chief author of those amusing satires, “Epistolae
Obscurorum Virorum,” ruined Monkery and paralyzed Rome, by
making all the world laugh at the follies, vices, crimes, and selfish
ignorance of both.
Leo X. was so enraged, that he excommunicated the authors, and
devoted them to damnation. “I care no more,” said Von Hutten, “for
the bull of excommunication than I do for a soap-bubble.” The
reputation he had acquired, helped him to a reconciliation with his
family; but the members thereof had only small respect for a mere
learned knight. They urged him to qualify himself for a chancellor,
and to repair to Rome, and study the law accordingly.
Something loath, he turned his face toward the Tyber, in 1515. The
first news received of the law-student was to the effect, that having
been attacked, dagger in hand, at a pic-nic, near Viterbo, by five
French noblemen, whom he had reproved for speaking ill of
Germany and the Emperor Maximilian, he had slain one and put the
other four to flight. From this fray he himself escaped with a slash on
the cheek. He recounted his victory in a song of triumph, and when
the law-student sat down to his books, every one in Rome
acknowledged that his sword and his pen were equally pointed.
His French adversaries threatened vengeance for their humiliating
defeat; and he accordingly avoided it, by withdrawing to Bologne,
where he again, with hearty disgust, applied himself to the severe
study of a law which was never applied for justice sake. He found
compensation in penning such stirring poetry as his satirical “Nemo,”
and in noting the vices of the priesthood with the intention of turning
his observation to subsequent profit. A feud between the German
and Italian students at Bologna soon drove our scholar from the
latter place. He took himself to Ferrara and Venice; was welcomed
everywhere by the learned and liberal, and, as he wrote to Erasmus,
was loaded by them with solid pudding as well as empty praise.
From this journey he returned to his native country. He repaired to
Augsburg, where Maximilian was holding court, and so well was he
commended to the emperor, that on the 15th of June, 1517, that
monarch dubbed him Imperial Knight, placed a gold ring, symbolic of
chivalrous dignity, on his finger, and crowned him a poet, with a
laurel wreath, woven by the fairest flower of Augsburg, Constance
Peutinger.
After such honors, his father received him with joy at his hearth; and
while Von Hutten went from his native Stackelberg to the library at
Fulda, yet hesitating whether to take service under the Emperor or
under the Elector of Mayence, he bethought himself of the irrefutable
work of Laurentius Valla against the temporal authority and
possessions of the Popedom. He studied the work well, published an
improved edition, and dedicated it, in a letter of fire and ability, to Leo
X.;—a proof of his hope in, or of his defiance of, that accomplished
infidel.
Luther and Von Hutten were thus, each unconscious of the other,
attacking Popery on two points, about the same moment. Luther
employed fearful weapons in his cause, and wielded them manfully.
Von Hutten only employed, as yet, a wit which made all wither where
it fell; and an irony which consumed where it dropped. In the
handling of these appliances, there was no man in Germany who
was his equal. Leo could admire and enjoy both the wit and the
irony; and he was not disinclined to agree with the arguments of
which they were made the supports; but what he relished as a
philosopher, he condemned as a Pontiff. The Florentine, Lorenzo de’
Medici, could have kissed the German on either cheek, but the
Pope, Leo X., solemnly devoted him to Gehenna.
As a protection against papal wrath, Von Hutten entered the service
of Albert, Elector-Archbishop of Mayence. Albert was a liberal
Romanist, but nothing in the least of an Ultra-Montanist. He loved
learning and learned men, and he recollected that he was a German
before he was a Romanist. In the suite of the elector, Von Hutten
visited Paris, in 1518. He returned to Mayence only to carry on more
vigorously his onslaught against the begging monks. He accounted
them as greater enemies to Germany than the Turks. “We fight with
the latter, beyond our frontier for power; but the former are the
corrupters of science, of religion, of morals—and they are in the very
midst of us.” So does he write, in a letter to Graf Nuenar, at Cologne.
The building of St. Peter’s cost Rome what the building of Versailles
cost France—a revolution. In each case, an absolute monarchy was
overthrown never again to rise. To provide for the expenses of St.
Peter’s, the Dominican Tetzel traversed Germany, selling his
indulgences. Luther confronted him, and denounced his mission, as
well as those who sent him on it. Von Hutten, in his hatred of monks,
looked upon this as a mere monkish squabble; and he was glad to
see two of the vocation holding one another by the throat.
At this precise moment, Germany was excited at the idea of a
projected European expedition against the Turks. The Imperial
Knight saw clearly the perils that threatened Christendom from that
question, and was ready to rush, sword in hand, to meet them. He
declared, however, that Europe groaned under a more insupportable
yoke, laid on by Rome, and he deprecated the idea of helping Rome
with funds against the Moslem. What a change was here from the
Imperial crusading knights of a few centuries earlier. “If Rome,” he
said, “be serious on the subject of such a crusade, we are ready to
fight, but she must pay us for our services. She shall not have both
our money and our blood.” He spoke, wrote, and published boldly
against Rome being permitted to levy taxes in Germany, on pretence
of going to war with the unbelieving Ottomans. At the same moment,
Luther was denouncing the monks who thought to enrich the coffers
of Rome by the sale of indulgences. One was the political, the other
the religious enemy of the power which sought to rule men and their
consciences from under the shadow of the Colosseum.
There was little hope of aid from the emperor, but Von Hutten looked
for all the help the cause needed in a union of the citizen classes
(whom he had been wont to satirize) with the nobility. To further the
end in view, he wrote his masterly dialogue of “The Robbers.” In this
piece, the speakers are knights and citizens. Each side blames the
other, but each is made acquainted with the other’s virtues, by the
interposition of a Deus ex machinâ in the presence of the knight,
Franz von Sickingen. The whole partakes of the spirit and raciness
of Bunyan and Cobbett. Throughout the dialogue, the vices of no
party in the state find mercy, while the necessity of the mutual
exercise of virtue and aid is ably expounded.
The knight, Franz von Sickingen, was author of a part of this
dialogue. His adjurations to Von Hutten not to be over-hasty and his
reason why, are no doubt his own. By the production of such papers,
Germany was made eager for the fray. This particular and powerful
dialogue was dedicated to John, Pfalzgraf of the Rhine, Duke of
Bavaria, and Count of Spanheim. This illustrious personage had
requested Ulrich that whenever he published any particularly bold
book, in support of national liberty, he would dedicate it to him, the
duke. The author obeyed, in this instance, on good grounds and with
right good will. There is in the dialogue an audible call to war, and
this pleased Luther himself, who was now convinced that with the
pen alone, the Reformation could not be an established fact.
Ulrich longed for the contact, whereby to make his country and his
church free of Romanist tyranny. But he considers the possibility of a
failure. He adjured his family to keep aloof from the strife, that they
might not bring ruin on their heads, in the event of destruction falling
on his own. The parents of Ulrich were now no more; Ulrich as head
of his house was possessed of its modest estates. Of his own
possessions he got rid, as of an encumbrance to his daring and his
gigantic activity. He formally made over nearly all to his next brother,
in order that his enemies, should they ultimately triumph, might have
no ground for seizing them.
At the same time, he warned his brother to send him neither letters
nor money, as either would be considered in the light of aid offered
to an enemy, and might be visited with terrible penalties.
Having rid himself of what few would so easily have parted from, he
drew his sword joyously and independently for the sake of liberty
alone, and with a determination of never sheathing it until he had
accomplished that at which he aimed, or that the accomplishment of
such end had been placed beyond his power.
“Jacta est alea,” cried he, viewing his bright sword, “the die is
thrown, Ulrich has risked it.”
In the meantime Von Hutten remained in the service of the Elector-
Archbishop of Mayence. The courtiers laughed at him as a rude
knight. The knights ridiculed him as a poor philosopher. Both were
mistaken; he was neither poor nor rude, albeit a Ritter and a sage.
What he most cared for, was opportunity to be useful in his
generation, and leisure enough to cultivate learning during the hours
he might call his own. His satirical poems, coarsely enough worded
against a courtier’s life, are admirable for strength and coloring. Not
less admirable for taste and power are his letters of this period. In
them he denounces that nobility which is composed solely of family
pride; and he denounces, with equally good foundation, the life of
“Robber Knights,” as he calls them, who reside in their castles, amid
every sort of discomfort, and a world of dirt, of hideous noises, and
unsavory smells; and who only leave them to plunder or to be
plundered. He pronounces the true knights of the period to be those
alone who love religion and education. With the aid of these, applied
wisely and widely, and with the help of great men whom he names,
and who share his opinions, he hopes, as he fervently declares, to
see intellect gain more victories than force—to be able to bid the old
barbarous spirit which still influenced too many “to gird up its loins
and be off.” Health came to him with this determination to devote
himself to the service and improvement of his fellow-men. It came
partly by the use of simple remedies, the chief of which was
moderation in all things. Pen and sword were now alike actively
employed. He put aside the former, for a moment, only to assume
the latter, in order to strike in for vengeance against the aggressive
Duke of Wurtemburg.
The crimes of this potentate had at length aroused the emperor
against him. Maximilian had intrusted the leadership of his army to
the famous knight-errant of his day, Franz von Sickingen. This
cavalier had often been in open rebellion against the emperor
himself; and Hutten now enrolled himself among the followers of
Franz. His patron not only gave him the necessary permission but
continued to him his liberal stipend; when the two knights met, and
made their armor clash with their boisterous embrace, they swore
not to stop short of vengeance on the guilty duke, but to fight to the
death for liberty and Christendom. They slept together in the same
bed in token of brotherly knighthood, and they rose to carry their
banner triumphantly against the duke—ending the campaign by the
capture of the metropolis, Stutgardt.
Reuchlin resided in the capital, and the good man was full of fear; for
murder and rapine reigned around him. His fear was groundless, for
Von Hutten had urged Sickingen to give out that in the sack of

You might also like