Plant breeders are urging sugar beet growers to rethink their seed strategies as weed pressure, disease risk and difficult drilling conditions reshape crop prospects.
The focus comes as growers face mounting challenges from weed beet, beet cyst nematode, virus yellows and cercospora, prompting greater interest in varieties with multiple resistance traits.
Breeding programmes have moved beyond single-trait resistance to varieties with multiple protections, says KWS sugar beet product manager Martin Brown. “It wasn’t long ago that rhizomania resistance was a niche trait – now it is universal.
“Since then, we’ve added BCN tolerance, Conviso Smart for weed beet control, virus yellows tolerance, and most recently CR+ for cercospora. Each trait addresses a specific on-farm challenge.”
Mr Brown says growers can’t change the conditions they have drilled into, but they can assess how crops establish, how well they cope with field-specific pressures and where different varietal traits could add value in future seasons.
Weed beet remains a major factor shaping future variety choices. “If weed beet is limiting, Conviso Smart can open that land back up,” says Mr Brown. “Stacked-trait Conviso Smart varieties such as Smart Nelda have opened up ground that was previously off limits by combining weed beet control with BCN tolerance.”
Soil structure
Alongside genetics, crop establishment remains central to yield performance, particularly after a difficult spring. Mr Brown warns that rushed cultivations and poor seedbeds continued to hold crops back, especially on heavier land.
“Heavier kit, paired with a temptation to push on regardless of soil condition, can come back to bite growers,” he says Despite volatility in recent seasons, Mr Brown says sugar beet continued to compare favourably with cereals financially. “Sugar beet has been up and down in recent years, but in general its margins still compare favourably with cereals/ “It remains a reliable crop to bank on, provided the growing process is properly managed.”