Practice Abstract 23 - Variety choice field beans in the Netherlands

Short title (native language): 
Variety choice field beans in the Netherlands

Short summary for practitioners (native language): 
Field beans (Vicia faba) is one of the protein crops that has large potential for use in the feed and food industry. With a protein content of on average 28% and a yield of 6 t/ha it is the crop with the highest protein yield per ha in the Netherlands. Yet the financial income for Dutch farmers is not high enough to compete with other crops. Therefore variety trials were done on different locations (sand and clay) to study varieties with higher and more stable yields and higher protein contents. Because there are no ongoing breeding activities on field beans in the Netherlands these varieties originated from Austria, Germany and UK. Besides spring beans also winter beans have been included.
The highest yielding variety appeared to be LG Cartouche with yields up to 8.5 t/ha on clay soils in 2017 followed closely by Fuego and Fanfare. In 2016 the yields however were not higher than 5 t/ha mainly due to severe virus attack submitted by aphids. Also leaf diseases are a treat to the field bean crop and fungicide applications are necessary in most years to avoid disappointing yields. Winter beans did not outyield spring beans and showed more risk in a winter with some severe frost. Therefor famers are advised to choose for a spring bean variety when considering growing field beans.
Value chain projects are in progress to use field bean (meal) as an additive in bread, bakery products and in meat replacement products.

For more information contact:
Chris de Visser, Business Unit Manager Wageningen UR Lelystad (chris.devisser@wur.nl) or Ruud Timmer, researcher protein crops (ruud.timmer@wur.nl).
https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Research-Institutes/plant-researc...