Evaluation of yield, yield stability, and yield–protein relationship in 17 commercial faba bean cultivars

Abstract

Faba bean is a legume crop with high protein content and considerable potential for wider cultivation in cool climates. However, it has a reputation for having unstable yield with large interannual variability, mostly attributed to yearly variation in rainfall. In this study, 17 commercial cultivars of faba bean were evaluated for seed yield, yield stability and the relationship between seed yield and protein content at four locations in Denmark and Finland during 2016–2018. We found that location and year effects accounted for 89% of the total seed yield variation. Cultivar × environment (GxE) interactions were small (2.4%) and did not cause reranking of cultivars across environments. Yield stability contributed little to the mean yield of the cultivars, as high‐yielding cultivars consistently outperformed the lower yielding genotypes, even under the most adverse conditions. Similarly, GxE effects on protein content were limited, and we found an overall negative correlation of −0.61 between seed yield and protein content for the cultivars and environments studied. These data may be helpful for selecting cultivars for field use or for use in breeding programmes, considering that future faba bean pricing could depend on both protein quantity and concentration.

Effect of Row Spacing and Plant Density on the Yield of Faba bean L. Under Very Differentiated Humidity Conditions

“…Due to the ability to fix atmospheric N, faba bean seeds demonstrate a high protein content and they are a source of nutrients, vitamins and many bioactive compounds (Karkanis et al, 2019). In Europe the average protein content in faba bean seeds accounts for about 30% (Skovbjerg et al, 2020), similarly as, e.g., in Canada; 24-35% of dry weight (Khazaei et al, 2021). In the present research the protein content in faba bean seeds was 29.2% on average, and the protein yield was 1248 kg per ha on average, from 200-600 kg in extremely dry years to over 2000 kg ha -1 in humid years.…”

“…Drought contributes to morphological, physiological and biochemical changes at the successive development stages in plants (Abid et al, 2017;Muktadir et al, 2020), which triggers a considerable yield variation in faba bean (Cernay et al, 2015). A high faba bean yielding is accompanied by a high interaction between the cultivar and the environmental conditions (Skovbjerg et al, 2020). optimal row spacing for faba bean yielding ranges from 20 cm (Bakry et al, 2011) to 25 cm (El-Karamity, 2017) in Egypt and from 30 cm (Gezahegn et al, 2016;Singh at al., 2013) to 40 cm (Gezahegn & Tasfaye, 2017) in Ethiopia.…”

Genotype X Environment Interaction Analysis of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) for Biomass and Seed Yield across Different Environments

“…As a consequence, the abovementioned climatic conditions significantly reduced the seed yield and yield components [36,37]. Legume crops in many areas and especially in Mediterranean conditions suffer from heat and water stress and other environmental factors that significantly reduce yield performance [38,39].…”

Evaluation of Adaptability of Different Faba Bean Landraces under Mediterranean Field Conditions of Central-Northern Algeria

“…It can reduce up to 200 kg of atmospheric nitrogen (N 2 ) per ha, thanks to its symbiotic relationship with rhizobium [2], thereby reducing the need for inorganic nitrogen fertilizers. The faba bean is an ideal protein source for humans [3,4]. According to Khazaei et al [5], the average protein content of the Vicia faba seed varies from 24-35%.…”