Winged bean has a dormancy that is not yet fully clarified during the germination phase. In this sense, the present study sought to evidence germination responses of the species under controlled conditions using 4 types of light (white 80 nm, blue 160 nm, yellow 320 nm and red 460 nm) x 2 substrates (washed sand and plantimax®) with 4 repetitions and 25 seeds. The IVG of wing beans showed better behavior in sand, being 12.8% higher than in the substrate. The root length after 16 days showed better size under the influence of red light, both in sand and in plantimax in the order of 5.72 cm and 6.82 cm, respectively.