The pollinating efficiency of honeybee and bumblebee visits to field bean flowers (Vicia faba L.).
Abstract
Insect visits and hand-tripping significantly increased the number of pods over that from unvisited flowers. The results indicated that if sufficient bees were present both set and yield on the lower trusses would be double that expected in the absence of pollinators.Honeybees and bumble bees entering the mouths of flowers showed the same pollinating efficiency. Robbing by short-tongued bumble bees, Bombus terrestris and B. lucorum, and subsequent robbing by honeybees, reduced pollinating efficiency. However, 50% of robbed flowers produced pods, but only 32% of unvisited flowers.A theoretical approach is described for assessing the insect populations required to pollinate crops adequately.J. M. Gedye