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ARS Home » Midwest Area » East Lansing, Michigan » Sugarbeet and Bean Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #363697
Research Project: Genetic Characterization for Sugar Beet Improvement

Location: Sugarbeet and Bean Research

Title: Storage rot of sugar beet and influence of Cercospora leaf spot on storage rot severity in sugar beet

Author
item Hanson, Linda
item McGrath, Jon
item Goodwill, Tom

Submitted to: Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2019
Publication Date: 9/1/2019
Citation: Hanson, L.E., McGrath, J.M., Goodwill, T.R. 2019. Storage rot of sugar beet and influence of Cercospora leaf spot on storage rot severity in sugar beet [CD-ROM]. Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report. Version 1.0. Denver, CO: Beet Sugar Development Foundation.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: No evidence for a significant increase in disease severity was found for the beet germplasm with severe Cercospora leaf spot during the field, as there was strong correlation (0.9567) between storage rot severity for the beets inoculated with C. beticola (designated CERC) and those that were not inoculated and sprayed with fungicides to manage leaf spot (designated NIC) over variety. The sugar beet germplasm showed some variability in their response to the three pathogens (Figure 1), but both an increase in disease severity in the CERC compared to the NIC, and a decrease were observed, with two germplasm showing increased disease area (greater than 0.5 difference), one with F. graminearum, and one with Phoma betae, and three showing a significant decrease in disease area, two with Botrytis cinerea and one with F. graminearum. Interestingly germplasm C869 showed the greatest response to the Cercospora treatments, with significant reductions in disease severity in the Cercospora leaf spot-exposed beets for two pathogens, and a significant increase for B. cinerea. The one old commercial variety tested, USH20, showed no significant difference in response to storage rot pathogens between the beets that had been exposed to Cercospora leaf spot and those where leaf spot was controlled.