Effect of Honey Bees on Yield of Three Soybean Cultivars1

Abstract

The importance of insects in the pollination of soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was studied over a year period by comparing the yields from plots caged with honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), plots without bees and without insects (insecticide treatment), and open plots. The pollinating activity of bees resulted in significantly greater yields from ‘Corsoy’ and ‘Hark’ cultivars but not from ‘Chippewa 64.’The foraging activity of bees on soybeans was dependent on the floral response of each cultivar to the environment. Hark had a high percentage of dissolved solids in the nectar and the highest quantity of nectar/floret.