ARS | Publication request: Release of EL54 Sugarbeet Germplasm Derived from WB879 Wild Germplasm With Resistance to Aphanomyces and Excellent Stand Establishment

Submitted to: Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: May 15, 2009
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Citation: McGrath, J.M. 2009. Release of EL54 Sugarbeet Germplasm Derived from WB879 Wild Germplasm With Resistance to Aphanomyces and Excellent Stand Establishment [CD-ROM]. 2009 Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report. Denver, Colorado: Beet Sugar Development Foundation.

Technical Abstract: EL54 (PI 654357) is a sugarbeet germplasm derived from wild beet (Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima) accession WB879 (PI 540625). EL54 is being released in the interest of broadening the genetic base of sugar beet. The parent accession WB879, collected in 1989 from Port-de-Houet, France (3 m elevation), was initially identified as Aphanomyces resistant in the Sugarbeet Germplasm Committee’s coordinated field trials in 1994 and reported as one of four accessions with very high resistance to Aphanomyces as judged by the lack of discoloration of hypocotyls. The introgression of this resistance into a sugar beet idiotype adapted to the humid Eastern U.S. growing regions was the desired outcome. EL54 has shown excellent Aphanomyces resistance in field trials in Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota. EL54 is expected to be a source for development of parental lines for hybrid cultivars resistant to Aphanomyces seedling damping-off and to mature root rot caused by Aphanomyces cochlioides.