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ARS Home » Midwest Area » East Lansing, Michigan » Sugarbeet and Bean Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316245
Title: Sugar beet activities of the USDA-ARS East Lansing conducted in cooperation with Saginaw Research & Extension Center during 2014

Author
item McGrath, Jon
item Hanson, Linda
item GALEWSKI, PAUL - Michigan State University
item Goodwill, Tom

Submitted to: Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/2015
Publication Date: 6/1/2015
Citation: McGrath, J.M., Hanson, L.E., Galewski, P., Goodwill, T.R. 2015. Sugar beet activities of the USDA-ARS East Lansing conducted in cooperation with Saginaw Research & Extension Center during 2014. [CD-ROM] Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report. Denver, Colorado: Beet Sugar Development Foundation.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Evaluation and rating plots were planted at the Saginaw Valley Research & Extension Center (SVREC) in Frankenmuth, MI in 2014 that focused on Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) and Rhizoctonia crown and root rot (CRR) disease performance of a wide range of Beta vulgaris materials. CLS and CRR trials were conducted in conjunction with the Beet Sugar Development Foundation (BSDF) and CLS trials included USDA-ARS cooperator germplasm. All trials were planted following normal fall and spring tillage operations. The CRR nursery was planted on May 6, the CLS evaluation nursery was planted on May 5, and the other evaluation and breeding nurseries on May 8. The CRR eastern evaluation nursery, a new addition to the SVREC, had entries from three companies, with a total of 236 entries plus three control varieties evaluated. Roots were dug September 4, 5, and 8 with a modified single row harvester. Each root was rated for disease severity using a 0-7 scale where 0=no visible lesions and 7=root completely rotted. A weighted disease index (DI) was calculated for each replicate. Variety DI means for the entire nursery ranged from 2.6 to 6.6, with the percent of roots classified as “harvestable” (less than 25% of the root rotted) ranging from 3% to 83% for the different varieties. The cooperative CLS evaluation nursery had entries from three companies with a total of 212 entries evaluated. Also in cooperation with the BSDF, 30 Plant Introductions were screened for CLS reaction and USDA-ARS cooperator germplasm including 21 entries from Fargo, ND, 218 entries from Ft. Collins, CO, along with 402 entries from East Lansing, MI. Visual evaluations of the plot were conducted with a disease index (DI) on a scale from 0-10 where 0=no symptoms and 10=all leaves dead. Disease severity peaked by early September, after which regrowth started to outpace new disease development. Variety means for the entire nursery were 2.4 (range = 1 to 5), 4.0 (range = 2 to 6), 5.0 (range 2 to 7), and 5.6 (range = 3 to 8) on Aug 14, Aug 21, Aug 28, and Sept 3, respectively. In addition, videos were obtained of the commercial nursery for subsequent scoring by computer imaging (cooperative with Xiaoming Liu, MSU).