Kimberly sugar beet germplasm evaluated for rhizomania and storage rot resistance in Idaho, 2015.

Rhizomania caused by Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) and storage losses are serious sugar beet production problems. To identify sugar beet germplasm lines with resistance to BNYVV and storage rots, 11germplasm lines from the USDA-ARS Kimberly sugar beet program were screened. The lines were grown in a sugar beet field infested with BNYVV and one treated with Telone II (18 gpa) in Kimberly, ID during the 2015 growing season in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications. At harvest on 7 October 2015, roots were dug and evaluated for symptoms of rhizomania and also placed in an indoor commercial sugar beet storage building. After 126 days in storage, samples were evaluated for surface fungal growth. Roots for entries from the RZ field averaged 11% of the root surface covered by fungal growth while those from the Telone field averaged 60%. Why these preliminary data suggest a Telone II application would lead to more fungal in storage is unknown. Entry K19-17 was found to have both good BNYVV resistance and only 2% fungal growth on roots from the RZ field. Given the wide ranging responses, selecting germplasm for rhizomania resistance and combining this resistance to storage rots will lead to considerable economic benefit for the sugar beet industry