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ARS Home » Midwest Area » East Lansing, Michigan » Sugarbeet and Bean Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #208544
Title: Genetics of water content in sugarbeet roots

Author
item McGrath, Jon
item TREBBI, DANIELE - KEYGENE NV, NETHERLANDS

Submitted to: American Society of Sugarbeet Technologists
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/2/2007
Publication Date: 2/26/2007
Citation: McGrath, J.M., Trebbi, D. 2007. Genetics of water content in sugarbeet roots]. Proceedings of American Society of Sugar Beet Technologists 2007 Biennial Meeting. 44:135.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Water contributes the greatest portion of harvested sugarbeet weight. Due to the convenience of measuring sucrose in solution, such as that extracted in beet juice, little information on the inheritance of water content in beets is available. Water content has a direct influence on the percent of sucrose determined on fresh beets, and the percent of sucrose as the proportion of total dry matter yield could have consequence for breeding beets with higher sucrose content. Sucrose, water, and dry matter estimates were obtained from a segregating population derived from a single Sugarbeet x Red Table Beet hybrid, and these estimates were used to approximate their inheritance relative to the segregation of molecular markers. Results demonstrated that sucrose content, expressed as the proportion of both fresh and dry weights, was heritable. Harvest yield expressed as beet weight was also heritable, and all yield components co-segregated with water content loci. Incorporation of water weight measures into the East Lansing breeding program have demonstrated that genetic variability for water content is available in tested sugarbeet germplasm, and that commercial hybrids tested have a small but statistically significant lower water content than most East Lansing germplasm under development for release. The proportion of sucrose reflected in dry matter is also heritable, however the range of differences is relatively small, and the most promising route to higher absolute sugar yields in the fields remains increasing total dry (bio)mass.