Sugar and Root Yield of Sugar Beets as Affected by Bacterial Vascular Necrosis and Rot, Nitrogen Fertilization, and Plant Spacing

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Abstract
In field experiments at Davis, California [USA], N fertilization increased the incidence of rot caused by Erwinia carotovora ssp. betavasculorum. When plants were inoculated, rot per beet root increased from 11% with no fertilizer N to 36% when 336 kg N/ha was applied. The sucrose concentration of roots declined at a faster rate with increasing rates of fertilizer N when plants were inoculated than when not inoculated, and root yield increased at a slower rate with N fertilization when plants were diseased. Sugar yield estimations from regressions increased for healthy plants but decreased for diseased plants as fertilizer N increased. As the in-row spacing between plants was increased from 10-46 cm, the percent of diseased roots increased more rapidly when plants were inoculated than when they were not inoculated. Root sucrose concentration decreased with increasing in-row spacing but the rate of decline was more rapid for inoculated than for uninoculated plants. For uninoculated plants, root and sugar yields were maximized at in-row spacings of 15-30 cm but, when plants were inoculated, these yields declined linearly as in-row spacing increased from 15 cm. In field tests at Salinas, inoculated plants of Erwinia-susceptible cultivar C17 showed more rot per root with increased in-row spacing than did inoculated plants of moderately susceptible cultivar 546H3.

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