Sugarbeet breeding: Situation, prospectives and limitations

Abstract

Breeders of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) use a variety of conventional breeding methods and novel techniques striving to protect, maintain and expand the genetic variability of the crop, develop superior hybrids, and multiply their seed. In recent years, a new methodology of genetic transformations has been extensively used in sugar beet breeding. The new methodology is used with the intention of introducing desirable genes, those that cannot be introduced by the classical breeding methods or which take a lengthy process to be introduced due to genetic barriers occur­ring during crossing. Conventional breeding methods and genetic engineering methods have been used to improve the sugar beet genome by the introduction of genes for resistance to Cercospora, rhizomania and nematodes. Presently, genes that modify the carbohydrate metabolism and genes that confer resistance to the active substances in certain herbicides may be introduced only by means of genetic engineering methods. .