New sugar beet hybrid varieties developed at Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops resistant to rhizomania

Abstract

Rhizomania is one of the most destructive sugar beet diseases that has been found and described so far. The disease has a complex character - it is caused by beet necrotic yellow veins virus (BNYVV) transmitted by a parasitic fungus Polymyxa betae. When susceptible hybrids are grown on infected soil their root yield and sugar content can reduce by over 80%. Presently, the most efficient and economically most acceptable measure of controlling the disease is to develop and cultivate tolerant or resistant hybrid varieties. Using conventional breeding methods and different sources of disease resistance, breeders of Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops have developed two diploid hybrid varieties of sugar beet (Nora and Vera) which were released by Varietal Release Committee of the Republic of Serbia in 2009. These varieties differ in quantitative genetic traits and depending on the source and type of resistance/tolerance, they can be cultivated on soils containing a very high level of rhizomania inoculum. Both hybrid cultivars have high genetic potentials for most important production traits.

Keywords

• hybrid varieties
• rhizomania
• resistance
• sugar beet