Robust beet varieties provide a yield hike
ATTENTION to detail has seen one Norfolk sugar beet grower achieve adjusted yields of 68.5t/ha – despite being on light, drought-prone land with a beet cyst nematode problem.
Sugar beet is a key crop for the family farming partnership DG & MJ Newby at Red House Farm at Griston, on the edge of the Norfolk Brecklands. The business has grown beet for the past 50 years.
But the farm is starting to see increasing beet cyst nematode damage curtail yields on at-risk fields. The crop is grown in tight rotation – normally one in every three years – and is in a hotspot region for the pest.
“We first saw the problem on one field – part of the reclaimed RAF Watton airfield – that we cleared in the 80s, returning it to agriculture,” says Malcolm Newby.
“Despite installing a drainage system it has always suffered from structural problems with compaction to depth that we can’t get a subsoiler deep enough into to break it up.”
In the past we put the low yields down to these compaction issues until aerial surveys picked out distinct patches where the crop was yellowing. “At this stage DEFRA assumed this was Rhizomania,” he recalls.
Mr Newby didn’t crop the field with beet again until 2006. But when he did, it was yielded just 40t/ha. “It was a disaster; the beet cyst nematode aggravated by a hot, dry year had a major impact, showing up worse than ever.”
It was at this stage that Mr Newby took the challenge to the beet breeders with the result that he has been one of the first to trial new BCN resistant varieties that just happened to be in the pipeline.
Last year, he grew the BCN resistant variety Fiorenza KWS in four row beds alongside the rhizo-resistor Opta and as part of trials he also had one trial box of Annouschka KWS, also in the same field.
Weighing off every load from the trial area, where infestation was greatest, Mr Newby recorded a 40% increase in adjusted yields over a weylode hydraulic gauge from the Fiorenza, compared to Opta.
The response for the Annouschka KWS was even higher. At 65.6 adjusted t/ha – this more recently introduced BCN resistant variety was 22t/ha ahead of Opta – a 51% advantage.
Total yields for Opta on ground that was beet-free for nine years were over 70t/ha – reflecting the very good season. But Annouschka KWS still provided 65t/ha of adjusted yield on land cropped with beet every third year.
So, what does Mr Newby make of the performance? In his view it is important to test soils to determine the extent of any problem and then match variety selection accordingly.
