TITLE:
Impact of Bee Pollination on Yield of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Grown under Semi-Arid Conditions
AUTHORS:
Seif M. Gasim, Awadalla A. Abdelmula
KEYWORDS:
Faba Bean, Yield, Honey Bees, Pollination, Self-Fertilization, Cross-Fertilization, Inbred-Generation
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.9 No.6,
June
26,
2018
ABSTRACT: The effect of honeybee (Apis mellifera carnica) on yield was investigated in open-pollinated faba bean cultivars and three inbred generations produced from them (once-selfed, twice-selfed, and thrice-selfed). All entries were grown in cages under two pollination conditions: presence of bees (cross-pollination) or absence of bees (self-pollination). The open-pollinated generations gave the highest performance in the presence and absence of bees. In the presence of bees, the open-pollinated and their inbred entries gave higher performance in all of the studied traits than in the absence of bees; the average improvement in yield and its components was 22%. The highest improvement percentage in yield performance was shown by more inbred entries (thrice-selfed > once-selfed), indicating that in faba bean populations, the performance of inbred generations was chiefly associated with the tripping of flowers, which is usually governed by successfully fertilized flowers, i.e., plants result from selfing in faba bean population needs to be visited by pollinating insects (bees) to set more seeds. It concluded that honeybee has an important role in increasing faba bean yield in semi-arid conditions; hence, it is important to provide a pollinator friendly environment for their foraging places and nesting sites to secure food supply.