Browsing by Author "Kyllönen, Tiiu"

The faba bean (Vicia faba L.) has increased its cultivation area in Finland because of its high protein content. It replaces some of the imported plant proteins, such as soybean (Glycine max) meal, as feed for livestock and has increasing interest as an ingredient in plant-based meat-substitute food products. The faba bean is partly self-pollinating, but insect pollination has been shown to increase yield and reliability. Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are one of the most important pollinators for the bean in Finland. The aims of the thesis were to study the effects of honeybee interactions with faba bean flowers and pollination. This was done mainly via a cage experiment about the pod count and distribution along the plant stem, with and without pollination from honeybees. The second and third aims were to find out more about the honeybee behaviour on the faba bean flowers and the abundance of pollinators and species richness on faba bean fields. For these parts a field survey was conducted on eight different faba bean fields in Southern Finland. The increase in pod count following bee activity was found to be as high as 65% and the increase in pods per node 19%. The distribution of the pods was increased towards the middle of the plant in the plants that were insect pollinated, compared to the plants that were not. There was a strong correlation between the number of honeybees (Apis mellifera) on the fields and the pod counts per plant node. Honeybees visited 1.5 flowers per plant on average and frontal visits constituted 55% of all visits recorded. Pollinator numbers and species diversity varied greatly from field to field. The results show that pollination by of honeybees benefits faba bean yield. They give a good understanding into the potential yield effects and provide pointers for future research on the topic. The study is aimed to prepare the background for introducing a better basis for cooperation between beekeepers and faba bean farmers. The main goal is to increase knowledge about honeybee pollination effects on the faba bean yield and give a solid start into building prospects for commercial pollination services in Finnish agriculture in general. The study was done in collaboration with The Finnish Beekeeping Association.