The best of both worlds for beet growers?

- An early wheat entry after rhizomania-resistant beet

Thriving in the recent warm and wet weather, rhizomania has been seen in a good number of sugar beet crops throughout East Anglia this summer. As such, increasing pressure to grow a rhizomania-resistant variety for the 2010 Campaign will not come as a surprise to growers in much of the region.

While there are now eight rhizomania-resistant varieties to choose from on the new Recommended List, including one which also has tolerance to beet cyst nematodes, there are still some potential drawbacks for growers. Statistics and first-hand experience show that it is clearly better to sow the majority of these varieties later to avoid bolting. However, this delay in drilling can have a knock-on effect at harvest time, particularly on heavy land, where a good entry for the following crop is an important consideration.

"Feedback from sugar beet growers on heavier land has indicated that there is a real need for a sugar beet variety that can be lifted early, in September or early October, without compromising yield," said Richard Powell, Syngenta’s UK crop manager for Hilleshog sugar beet.

For many, getting the sugar beet crop harvested early enough remains a high priority in order to prepare a good seedbed for a following wheat crop. A particularly unpleasant autumn in 2008 highlighted the problem of creating favourable seedbeds in difficult conditions.

"We are often told by growers that a late sugar beet harvest costs them significant yield from their following wheat crop, and this is the problem that we have been addressing. Our new Rhizomania-resistant variety – Aimanta – has come from our breeders with a reputation for early maturity. It has always been an important issue in the development of many Hilleshog sugar beet varieties because of our Scandinavian heritage, where the seasons are short and demand an early harvest. With a ’short season’ character and early maturity, Aimanta will give respectable yields from a mid-March sowing and September harvest."

Aimanta is also the first Rhizomania-resistant variety with the Hilleshog low-tare root shape. The much reduced root groove holds less dirt, resulting in a noticeably cleaner harvest and lower dirt tare, and the biologically smaller crown markedly reduces crown tare.

"We think that many growers will find these a useful combination of features: rhizomania resistance, early maturity, easy harvest and low tares," said Richard Powell.