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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sugarbeet and Potato Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #349093
Title: Effect of methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid, Headline and Stadium on root yield, sucrose yield, and storage properties

Author
item Fugate, Karen
item Campbell, Larry
item METZGER, MIKE - Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative
item Eide, John
item LAFTA, ABBAS - North Dakota State University
item KHAN, MOHAMED - North Dakota State University

Submitted to: Sugarbeet Research and Extension Reports
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/10/2018
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) are plant hormones known to be involved with defense against plant pathogens and stress caused by drought, cold temperatures, or saline soil conditions. Previous studies have also shown that plants treated with MeJA and SA have enhanced yields and maintain higher quality during postharvest storage. In light of these studies, we questioned whether MeJA and SA may increase sugarbeet yield and reduce sucrose and root quality losses during storage. We found that MeJA and SA did not significantly affect sugarbeet root weight or sucrose content at harvest. MeJA and SA treatments also had little effect on the ability of harvested sugarbeet roots to retain sucrose and processing quality during storage. However, plants treated with MeJA combined with Headline, a fungicide used to control a common sugarbeet leaf spot disease, produced plants that contained more sugar per acre than plants that received no treatments. Additional experiments were carried out to determine whether treatment of harvested roots with Stadium, a commercial mixture of three fungicides that is used to control storage diseases in other crops, would improve storage of sugarbeet roots. Stadium, however, had no effect on the ability of harvested roots to maintain sucrose content and quality during storage.

Technical Abstract: Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) have been reported to enhance yield and protect crop plants and products against abiotic stresses and diseases. The effect of these compounds on sugarbeets, however, is unknown. Research was conducted in 2016 and 2017 to investigate the effects of an early season MeJA treatment, a late season MeJA treatment, or an early season SA treatment on sugarbeet root yield, sucrose content, and storage properties including root respiration rate, sucrose loss, and invert sugar accumulation. All treatments were applied singly or in combination with a late season treatment of pyraclostrobin (Headline), a commonly used fungicide with purported hormone-like attributes. Postharvest Stadium™ treatments, with or without Headline treatment, were also applied and evaluated for their effect on storage properties. In 2016 and 2017, MeJA or SA applications had no effect on root yield, sucrose content, or recoverable sugar per ton at time of harvest, although an 1149 lbs/acre increase in recoverable sugar was obtained from plants that received a MeJA treatment in June and a Headline treatment in August in 2017. Storage traits in 2016 were largely unaffected by treatments except for an increase in root respiration rate after 30 days in storage for roots that received an early season application of MeJA and an increase in recoverable sugar per ton after 90 days in storage for roots that received a late season treatment with MeJA and Headline. No beneficial effects from a Stadium treatment were observed in 2016. Evaluation of storage properties for the 2017 field study is ongoing and will be reported in the 2018 project report.