Another jump for yield in 2021 sugar beet RL

ALS Tolerant

With this year being the first season that growers can use Conviso Smart technology, the variety Smart Rivetta by KWS is the second ALS tolerant variety to make it onto the list.

Mr May says: “With the rapid reduction in available herbicides, these varieties could well be very important in the future.

“While Smart Rivetta is lower yielding [92 per cent], all the RL trials can’t be treated with relevant herbicides. These were treated with conventional herbicides and we know they will reduce yields to an extent. When used with Smart Conviso herbicides it is likely to yield higher.”

Beet cyst nematode

As the area of land infested with BCN appears to be increasing, the addition of Lacewing from SESVanderHave means there are currently three BCN tolerant varieties on the RL.

“Lacewing is a welcomed addition, and it has a reasonably high sugar content [18 per cent] as well,” says Mr May.

The new varieties Evalotta, Catriona, Eldorana and Sancha, all by KWS produced no bolters in three years of normal sown RL trials. However, Evalotta is not recommended for early drilling says Mr May.

“It is a high yielding variety at 103 per cent, 3 per cent above controls. It had higher rust infection than BTS1915, but the yields in the untreated trials weren’t affected by rust relative to the other varieties which indicates there could be some tolerance there.”

Bolting

Catriona has good bolting characteristics, offering growers more flexibility on sowing dates, Mr May adds. Similar in bolting is Eldorana, which has a slightly higher sugar content of 18 per cent. Sancha is low bolting and is standard in terms of disease tolerance.

Mr May adds: “The 2021 list shows how successful breeders have been with 10 out of the 22 varieties on the list recording no bolters in the 20 RL yield trials, which were sown from mid-March onwards, and make up the database used for the 2021 RL. That’s a big bonus.

“Breeders are putting a lot of effort into rapidly developing varieties that are tolerant to virus, disease and reductions in fungicides. We’re still getting varieties through that are needed for normal use and starting to see varieties coming through for special use.”