Sugar beet seed yield depending on the quality of planting material

Abstract

Purpose. To establish the features of the sugar beet seed yield formation as affected by the quality of mother roots, in particular their partial affection by root rot providing the removal of the rot foci before planting. Methods. Field, laboratory, visual, measuring and weighting, mathematical and statistical. Results. The use of mother roots partially affected by root rot for planting after removing the foci of the disease before planting, did not affect the resistance of seed bearing plants to diseases (viral yellows, cercosporosis, and mosaic) during the growing season. The quality of mother roots influenced the formation of productive seed bearers. During planting of healthy root crops unaffected by rot, 13.3% more productive plants were formed than in the control, where partially affected root crops were planted, which ensured an increase in seed yield by 0.13 t/ha. A significant increase in seed yield was obtained in the variants where the seed bearers were treated with fungicide. When planting healthy mother roots both in the control and in the variants with the treatment of seed bearers with fungicides, the germination rate was significantly higher compared to the variant where partially affected mother roots were planted. The content of sowing fractions of seeds (3.50–4.50 and 4.50–5.50 mm) did not change significantly when planting mother roots partially affected by rot, compared with planting healthy roots. Conclusions. The use of mother roots, partially affected by rot, for planting, after removing the foci of the disease before planting, did not affect the damage to the seed bearing plants by diseases. By reducing the number of productive plants, seed yield and its quality decreased significantly.