Insect pest damage increases faba bean (Vicia faba) yield components but only in the absence of insect pollination.

ABSTRACT: Identifying and quantifying crop stressors interactions in agroecosystems is necessary to guide sustainable crop management strategies. Over the last 50 years, faba bean cropping area has been declining, partly due to yield instabilities associated with uneven insect pollination and herbivory. Yet, the effect of interactions between pollinators and a key pest, the broad bean beetle Bruchus rufimanus (florivorous and seed predating herbivore) on faba bean yield has not been investigated. Using a factorial cage experiment in the field, we investigated how interactions between two hypothesized stressors, lack of insect pollination by bumblebees and herbivory by the broad bean beetle, affect faba bean yield. Lack of bumblebee pollination reduced bean weight per plant by 15%. Effects of

SUBMITTER: Riggi LGA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8901888 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature