The 2003 Sugarbeet Variety Performance Tests for the Amalgamated Sugar Company LLC Production Areas.

The Amalgamated Sugar Company Variety Trials. Stacey Camp and Paul Foote

The Oregon State University Variety Trials. Clinton Shock and Eric Eldredge

The University of Idaho Rhizomania Variety Trials. John J. Gallian and Dixie Vargas

The Amalgamated Sugar Company Variety Trials

Standard commercial and experimental variety trials were planted at Aberdeen, Jerome, Minidoka, and Nampa, Idaho. The Aberdeen and Minidoka trials were selected for use in the variety approval calculations along with the Oregon State University variety trials. The variety approval calculations are used by the Seed Committee in determining which varieties to approve for sale in the Amalgamated Sugar Company’s production areas. The Jerome variety trials were grown under uniformly moderate rhizomania disease pressure and were harvested and analyzed separately. The Nampa trials were not harvested for research purposes.

All varieties grown in the standard commercial and experimental trials, and the transgenic trial were entered in the Beet Sugar Development Foundation’s Curly Top nursery in Twin Falls, Idaho, and rated for disease resistance to the curly top virus.

Standard Variety Trials: Tables 1&2, 5-8

At each location, 27 commercial and 28 experimental varieties were planted in separate tests. Four of the commercial varieties were included in the experimental tests as check varieties. Experimental design was a randomized complete block with nine replications. Plots were four rows wide (22 inch row spacing) by 25 ft long with a 5 ft alley separating each tier. Plots were seeded with a cone planter at a rate of eight seeds/ft of row and hand thinned to an eight-inch average spacing.

In early summer, plots were individually evaluated and those showing non-treatment effects were noted and later dropped from the analyses. The beets were machine topped and the two center rows of each plot were machine harvested. Roots were weighed and two sugar samples per plot were analyzed for percent sugar, conductivity, and nitrates at the Amalgamated Sugar Company tare laboratory at Paul, Idaho. The data were analyzed separately for each of the tests using least-squares means analysis. The Aberdeen and Minidoka commercial tests were combined with the Oregon State University commercial test and analyzed across three locations for 2003 and six locations for 2002 and 2003.

Jerome Rhizomania Variety Trials: Tables 9&10

The Jerome variety trials were serendipitously planted in a field with moderate rhizomania disease pressure. Since the disease pressure appeared to be uniform throughout the trials, they were harvested as an example of variety response under moderate rhizomania conditions. The Jerome variety trials were designed, planted, thinned, evaluated, and harvested the same as reported above for the standard variety trials, except that one tare sample was taken per plot in order to individually tare the yield data. The data were analyzed separately for each of the tests using least-squares means analysis.

Experimental Transgenic Variety Trial: Table 15

Eight experimental Roundup Ready sugarbeet varieties and the same four commercial check varieties used in the standard experimental variety trials were grown at the University of Idaho Research and Extension Center, Kimberly, Idaho. Experimental design was a randomized complete block with eight replications. Plots six rows wide were planted, thinned, evaluated, and harvested the same as reported above for the standard variety trials. Sugar samples were analyzed by Betaseed, Inc., for percent sugar, sodium, potassium, and amino nitrogen. The data were analyzed using least-squares means analysis.

Emergence Tests: Tables 16-19

Plots were planted in conjunction with the standard variety trials at Aberdeen, Jerome, Minidoka, and Nampa in order to compare the emergence rates of all 27 commercial varieties under actual field conditions. Experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replications. Plots were single row, 25 ft long, with 100 seeds planted per plot using a cone planter. Emergence counts were started when the first seedlings were observed and finished four weeks after planting. No yield data were taken on the emergence tests.

Cultural Practices for the Amalgamated Standard Variety Trials

	Aberdeen - planted 9 April	Minidoka - planted 1 April	Jerome - planted 21 April
2002 Crop	Oats	Potatoes	Barley
Fall Fertilizer (lb/A)	None	None	200 lbs 11-52-0, 60 lbs S
Fall Soil Prep	Plowed	Plowed	disked, chisel plowed twice
Soil Test (PPM)	N 36, P 19	N 23, P 19	N 34
Preplant Fert. (lbs/A)	N 100, P 40	N 60, P 40	N 50
Spring Soil Prep	Roller Harrowed	Roller Harrowed	Roller Harrowed & Bedded
Pesticides (per acre)	Broadcast:	Preplant: 3 pints Roneet	Banded Preplant:
	2 May - 18 oz Progress	Banded 2 applications of:	18 April - 1.4 pt. Nortron
	+ 0.5 oz Upbeet	8 oz Progress	+ 8 lbs Counter
	14 May - 18 oz Progress	+ 1/6 oz Upbeet	Banded:
	+ 0.5 oz Upbeet	Banded 1 application of:	13 May - 12 oz Betamix
	Banded at 2nd cultivation:	10 oz Progress	+ 0.25 oz Upbeet
	12 June - 14 lb Temik 15G	+ 1/6 oz Upbeet	22 May - 10 oz Betamix
		Banded 14 lb Temik 15G	+ 2 oz Stinger
			4 June - 9 oz Betamix
			+ 7 Oz Outlook
Irrigation System	Solid-set	Center Pivot	Center Pivot
Fertigation (per acre)	19 June - 25 lbs N	None	None
	2 July - 25 lbs N

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Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the staff at the Aberdeen Research and Extension Center, Dean Bingham in Jerome County, Paul Duncan in Minidoka County, Mike Christensen in Canyon County, and the staff at the Kimberly Research and Extension Center for their cooperation in conducting the Amalgamated Sugar Company Variety Trials.

The Oregon State University Variety Trials

Tables 3&4

The sugar beet trials were grown on an Owyhee silt loam that had grown winter wheat the year before. The field was plowed and disked, then 82 lb P₂O₅/acre, 93 lb K₂O/acre, 99 lb SO₄/acre, 3 lb Zn/acre, 47 lb Mg/acre, 1 lb Mn/acre, 2 lb Cu/acre, and 1 lb B/acre fertilizer was applied according to fall soil sampling results. The field was then ripped, disked, groundhogged, fumigated with Telone C17 at 20 gallon/acre, and fall bedded on 22-inch rows.

On March 29 the beds were remade using a spike-tooth bed harrow and preplant herbicide Nortron SC at 6 pint/acre was applied and incorporated using the bed harrow. A soil test taken on April 3, 2003, showed 51 lb N0₃/acre available in the top foot of soil, 24 ppm extractable P, 322 ppm exchangeable K, 2.5 ppm Zn, pH 7.3, and 1.3 percent organic matter.

Sugar beet varieties were entered by ACH Seeds, Betaseed, Hilleshog/Syngenta, Holly Hybrids-Spreckels, and Seedex in 2003. Twenty seven varieties were tested in the Commercial Trial, and 32 varieties (including four commercial check varieties) were tested in the Experimental Trial. Seed for the Commercial trial was organized by Amalgamated. Seed of varieties in the Experimental trial was sent by the seed companies. Both the Experimental Trial and the Commercial Trial were planted on March 31. Seeds were planted with John Deere model 71 flexi-planter units with double disc furrow openers and cone seeders fed from a spinner divider to uniformly distribute the seed. The seeding rate was 12 viable seed/ft of row. Each entry was replicated eight times in a randomized complete block design.

On April 4 Counter 20CR was applied in a band over the row at 8.6 lb/acre (5 oz/1000 ft. of row). On April 10 Roundup herbicide was applied at 1 quart/acre, and on April 11 crust busters were rolled over the rows to ensure uniform emergence. Full emergence was observed on April 14. On May 2, Betamix Progress at 24 oz/acre, Upbeet at 0.5 oz/acre, and Stinger at 3 oz/acre were applied for weed control. On May 14, urea was sidedressed to supply 170 lb N/acre. Seedlings were thinned by hand to one plant every 6.4 inches in the row on May 19 and 20. Plots of each variety were four rows wide by 23 ft. long, with 4-ft alleys separating tiers of plots. The field was sidedressed with Temik at 10 lb/acre on May 21 to control sugar beet root maggot. On May 22, trifluralin was applied at 1.5 pint/acre and incorporated with an Alloway cultivator.

The field was furrow irrigated with surge irrigation from gated pipe. Irrigation was monitored with Watermark (Irrometer Co. Inc., Riverside, CA) soil moisture sensors connected to an AM400 Hansen datalogger (M.K. Hansen Co., Wenatchee, WA) to maintain the soil water potential wetter than -70 centibar at 10-inch depth in the beet row. The first irrigation was applied on May 23, for 16 hours, to move the insecticide with the wetting front into the sugar beet seedlings' root zone. The field was recorrugated the final time on June 10.

Headline fungicide was applied at 12 oz/acre by aerial applicator on June 17 for control of powdery mildew. Headline fungicide at 12 oz/acre with liquid sulfur at 12 lb S/acre was applied by aerial applicator on July 17. Sulfur dust was applied at 40 lb S/acre by aerial applicator on July 20. A petiole test was taken on July 31, and 0.2 lb B/acre was applied in the irrigation water. Topsin M at 0.5 lb/acre with 0.44 lb S/acre, 0.22 lb Fe/acre, 0.22 lb Mn/acre, and 0.33 lb Zn/acre was applied by aerial applicator on August 4. On August 7, 4.6 lb N/acre, 10 lb SO₄/acre, 0.25 lb Zn/acre, and 0.25 lb Cu/acre were applied in the irrigation water. On August 11, a second petiole test was taken, and on August 14, 7.8 lb N/acre, 10.7 lb P₂O₅/acre, 1.2 lb K₂O/acre, 9.5 lb SO₄/acre, 0.02 lb B/acre, 0.01 lb Fe/acre, 0.01 lb Zn/acre, and 0.21 lb Cu/acre were applied in the irrigation water. The final irrigation was on September 23.

Sugar beets were harvested from the Commercial Trial on October 22 and 23, and from the Experimental Trial on October 23 and 24. The foliage was flailed and the crowns were removed with rotating knives. All sugar beets in the center two rows of each plot were dug with a two-row wheel-lifter harvester and weighed, and two eight-beet samples were taken from each plot. Samples were delivered each day to the Snake River Sugar factory in Nyssa for laboratory analysis of percent sucrose (Sug), nitrate concentration, and conductivity (Cond).

The root weight data were examined for outliers as is customary for calculations of sugar beet variety data by Amalgamated in these trials. Observations more than two standard deviations from the mean for each variety were deleted. Sugar sample data were checked for errors in sugar percentages and conductivity with the erroneous readings being dropped from the data set. The companion samples of all missing or deleted sugar data were good, so no plots were lost due to sugar sample errors. The weight of sugar beets from each plot was multiplied by 0.95 to estimate tare. Sugar concentrations were "factored" by multiplying measured sucrose by 0.98 to estimate the sugar that would have been lost to respiration if the beets had been stored in a pile. The data with two samples from each plot were averaged for analysis. The percent extraction (Ext) was calculated using the formula:

Ext = 250 + [(1,255.2 * Cond) - (15,000 * Sug) - 6,185] / Sug * * (98.66 - 7.845 * Cond)

Variety differences in yield, sucrose content, conductivity, percent extraction, and estimated recoverable sugar were calculated using least-squares means analysis. Variety performance was grouped by seed company for the Commercial Trial (Table 3) and the Experimental Trial (Table 4). OSU reports of previous years’ variety trials are available online at cropinfo.net.

The University of Idaho Rhizomania Variety Trials

Tables 11-14

Commercial and experimental rhizomania resistant varieties adapted to the Idaho growing area, and transgenic varieties resistant to both rhizomania and Roundup, were tested in separate trials at the College of Southern Idaho Ag Endowment Farm at Twin Falls on a field leased by the Snake River Sugarbeet Research and Seed Committee for rhizomania research. The field had been inoculated in 2002 with rhizomania-infested soil using a Gandy insecticide applicator at planting, and susceptible sugarbeets were grown to establish the disease. In the spring of 2003 the field was fertilized and double disked. RoNeet was applied at 3.5 pints/acre, roller harrowed and bedded. Additional rhizomania-infested soil was applied during the bedding operation using a Gandy insecticide applicator. Thirty-four varieties plus one susceptible commercial check were planted on May 7, 2003, with a cone planter at a seeding rate of 8 seeds/ft of row. Experimental design was a randomized complete block with 8 replications. Plots were 4 rows wide (22 inch row spacing) by 25 ft long with a 5 ft alley separating each tier. Hand lines were used to sprinkler irrigate beginning May 15. The pesticide regime included a broadcast tank mix of Progress 18 oz/A + Upbeet 1.0 oz/A + Asana 1.0 oz/A on May 22. Progress 25 oz/A + Upbeet 1.0 oz/A was applied on June 3, and Temik 20 lb/A on June 23. Plants were thinned to an 8-inch average spacing at the 2-4-leaf stage. All varieties were entered into the curly top nursery in Twin Falls, Idaho, operated by the Beet Sugar Development Foundation (BSDF) and rated for resistance to curly top virus disease.

Both the standard rhizomania and the transgenic trials were harvested on September 29-30. Plants were machine topped and the two center rows of each plot were machine harvested using a two row Farmhand 808 harvester modified for research. Roots were weighed and 2 sugar and 1 tare sample (8 beets minimum) were taken per plot. Each root in one border row in each plot of four replications in both tests were scored for rhizomania using a 0 to 9 rating scale, where 0 = no disease symptoms and 9 = highly susceptible. Disease was uniform and mild throughout both tests, and the susceptible check variety showed symptoms of rhizomania beginning in mid-July. Sugar and tare samples for the standard rhizomania test were analyzed at the Amalgamated Sugar Company Tare Laboratory at Paul, Idaho. Sugar samples for the transgenic test were analyzed by Betaseed in Kimberly, Idaho, and tare samples for the transgenic test were measured by hand in the field in Twin Falls. Yield data were adjusted according to tare values per plot in both tests.

Results of the standard rhizomania test are given in Table 11. Average root yield per acre of the 9 highest performing varieties was 9.5 tons higher than the susceptible check variety. The average estimated recoverable sugar for the top 8 varieties was 3589 lbs per acre higher than the susceptible check variety. In the transgenic test (Table 14), the average root yield per acre of the 3 Roundup Ready varieties was more than 6 tons higher than the commercial susceptible check variety, and the average estimated recoverable sugar was 3058 lbs/A higher than the commercial susceptible check variety. The disease index (DI) in both tables is the mean rating of all roots for each variety. The percent resistance (% R) is the percentage of roots for each variety that had ratings of 0 to 3.

Two-location summaries are given for commercial (Table 12) and experimental (Table 13) rhizomania resistant varieties in the University of Idaho test at Twin Falls and the Amalgamated Sugar Company tests in Jerome County. The data for rhizomania resistant varieties common to both tests were combined and analyzed. Because commercial and experimental varieties were tested in separate trials at Jerome, the data are summarized separately for commercials and experimentals.

2003 Variety Trials

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