Author
Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2017 Publication Date: 1/12/2018 Citation: Strausbaugh, C.A., Eujayl, I.A. 2018. Influence of beet necrotic yellow vein virus and freezing temperatures on sugar beet roots in storage. Phytopathology. 107:S5.137. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Rhizomania caused by Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) is a yield limiting sugar beet disease that was also observed to influence the roots ability to resist freezing in storage. Roots from 5 commercial sugar beet cultivars (1 susceptible and 4 resistant to BNYVV) were produced in fields under high and trace levels of rhizomania pressure and subjected to 5 temperatures ranging from 0 to -4.4°C for 24 h. After the freeze treatment, the 8-root samples were stored in a commercial indoor storage building (set point 1.1°C) for 50 d in 2014 (repeated in 2015 at 57 d). Mid-root temperature, frozen and discolored tissue, and moisture and sucrose loss were evaluated. The air temperature at 0, -1.1, and -2.2°C matched mid-root temperature, but mid-root remained near -2.2°C when air temperature was dropped to -3.3 and -4.4°C. When comparing fields with the susceptible cultivar, frozen tissue increased (P < 0.01) from 0% up to 16 to 63% at -3.3°C and from 13 to 27% up to 63 to 90% at -4.4°C depending on year. Regardless of field, resistant cultivars only had elevated (P < 0.05) amounts of frozen tissue at -4.4°C in 13 of 16 comparisons. Frozen tissue was related (P < 0.0001) to discolored tissue (r2 = 0.91), weight loss (r2 = 0.12 to 0.28) and sucrose reduction (r2 = 0.69 to 0.74). Thus, rhizomania in sugar beet not only leads to yield and sucrose loss, but also increases frozen tissue as temperatures drop to -3.3°C and below. |