Limagrain UK has announced the addition of three new sugar beet varieties to the BBRO Recommended List for 2016. All three – BTS 470, BTS 340 and BTS 775 – are high yielding in their respective market segments and offer growers distinct and unique offerings in terms of output and management ease.
The three varieties are bred by Betaseed GmBH, the European arm of the most successful sugar beet breeder in the US, and are being marketed in the UK by Limagrain.
Limagrain UK sugar beet consultant Bram van der Have (pictured above, left, with Limagrain arable technical manager Ron Granger) believes that these three varieties provide growers with a choice of top yielding varieties whilst offering a range of agronomic characteristics to suit specific on-farm and market situations.
“During these times when growers are being encouraged to push for the highest yields to dilute costs of production, it’s important to choose varieties that’ll not only produce these top yields, but also offer sound agronomics to allow the crop to get off to a good start as 70 per cent of the crop’s potential is decided at drilling,” he said. “By choosing the right variety and getting drilling conditions right, there’s no reason why sugar beet shouldn’t remain a mainstay in the cropping programme of many farms in East Anglia.”
The newly recommended Limagrain offering BTS 470 features top line performance for yield and sugar content offering very high adjusted tonnes yield at 105 per cent of controls, positioning it at the top of the recommended list in this category. The variety also offers consistently high sugar content, at 18.2 per cent, which puts it as one of the highest in this category on the Recommend List.
BTS 470 is rhizomania resistant and also offers valuable agronomic characteristics demonstrated by its good establishment producing a good plant population even in challenging situations. The variety is one of the lowest bolters on the recommended list.
Mr Van der Have added that the variety has very good resistance for rust and powdery mildew, and would be welcomed by growers looking to spread the spraying workload among more susceptible varieties and those who like to lift later in the season.
“The very high sugar content of BTS 470 is likely to appeal to the sugar processor and a very high adjusted tonnage variety which should make it equally attractive to the professional sugar beet grower,” he said.
The second new variety to be offered from Limagrain UK is BTS 340, a good all-rounder variety offering excellent yield potential and rhizomania resistance.
“Add to this its solid all-round agronomics, and you have a variety that will suit most situations and needs,” Mr Van der Have said.
As one of the highest yielders on the list, BTS 340 offers a relative adjusted tonnes yield of 103.7 per cent, and a sugar content of 17.92. These yields are backed up by a sound agronomic package; BTS 340 has one of the lowest bolting tendencies when sown at a normal time, however the flexibility of the variety to meet a range of situations is demonstrated by its ability to maintain this lower bolting tendency which allows for it to be sown anytime from reasonably early in March to the end of April.
There are not many situations where BTS 340 will not fit, Mr Van der Have said, pointing out that it’s also ideal for the early lifting period.
The third newly listed variety offered by Limagrain is BTS 755, which is a very exciting variety for UK sugar beet growers as it’s the highest-yielding variety on the 2016 BBRO descriptive list to offer beet cyst nematode (BCN) tolerance, and combined with its rhizomania resistance and sound agronomic package is likely to be prized by those with land confirmed as, or suspected of, being infected with BCN, with no compromise to performance.
In official trials, the variety has demonstrated its ability to produce in fields without BCN infestation yields of relative adjusted tonnes of 103.0 per cent, which is equivalent to the top yielders on the 2015 BBRO Recommended List.
“In other words, growers with a BCN problem no longer have to pay a yield penalty,” Mr Van de Have said.
“BTS 755 demonstrates the benefits of a breeding programme that has focussed on developing this resistance without a compromise to yield. We know from data collected in continental Europe that in cases of heavy BCN infestation, that resistant varieties can give yield benefits of up to 30 per cent compared to non BCN resistant varieties and this is what we’re seeing with BTS 755.”
This is a high sugar content variety that can be sown with confidence, Mr van der Have added. As it’s a fast emerger that produces a high final plant population, with a very erect leaf canopy, BTS 755 can be sown from late-March until late April.
The variety also offers a good yellow rust and powdery mildew resistance rating, so performs agronomically as well as producing an outstanding yield performance.
For more information visit: www.limagrain.com.
