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Yielding a massive 5% more than any other variety on the 2021 BBRO Recommended List, BTS 1915 leads the pack, with an adjusted tonne yield of 108.1% and a high sugar content of 17.7%.

Bred by Betaseed and marketed by Limagrain UK, BTS 1915 leads the Recommended List by a considerable amount - 5% over any other variety - and this is exceptional. Next on the list is KWS Evalotta yielding 103%, followed by last year’s list topper KWS Kortessa at 101.9%, so it’s clear to see the exceptional yield increase brought by BTS 1915,” explains Ron Granger, sugar beet product manager for Limagrain.

“We normally expect to see year on year yield advances of 1-2% in yields – so BTS 1915 is something quite special - and this is at a time when many other arable crop yields have plateaued.”

“Nor is it a one year wonder performance” he adds. “These extremely high yields have been consistent over the last three years that the variety has been in trials - so we are confident in the variety’s ability to perform in different seasons and situations.”

“We are also in the fortunate position where sugar beet breeders are still able to push yields without compromising the sugar content – and this is reflected in BTS1915 with its very acceptable sugar percentage of 17.7.”

Nor is it all about the yields, he continues. “BTS 1915 has excellent agronomic characteristics that make it a very useful variety on-farm. We recognise that varieties also need to establish well, have good bolting tolerance and robust disease resistances to succeed.”

“However when BTS 1915 is sown in the normal sowing window from mid-March onwards, it has shown an excellent bolting tolerance, recording no bolters. This result has been consistent over the last three years, including data from 2019, which we know was a high year for bolting.”

“However, it should be recognised that when BTS 1915 is sown early, the variety might show excessive botling as the Early Sown Bolter trials, conducted as part of the Recommended List trial series demonstrate. “

“The variety has the highest brown rust disease resistance rating on the Recommended List of 8.7 , thus making it the first choice for late lifting where brown rust is potentially the key disease to control.”

PANEL

BTS 1915 provides an opportunity for growers who want to take the next step-up in yields as in doing so they are raising the bar in sugar beet production even higher - making themselves more resilient against the rising costs of producing a sugar beet crop.

According to figures from the John Nix Pocketbook for Farm Management 2019 edition, the additional benefits of this 5% yield are significant in terms of profitability, irrespective of the crop being low, average or high yielding.

Increasing the yield by 5% on a crop yielding 66.5t/ha by 3.325t/ha brings a financial benefit of £67/ha. For a crop yielding 78t/ha, a 5% increase in yield of3.9t/ha is worth £79.80/ha and on a crop yielding 89.5t/ha an extra 5% benefit in yield of 4.475t/ha is worth £91.51/ha. This is based on a 2020 beet price, on a three-year contract at £20.45/t with no crown tare reduction.

Yield along with key agronomic characteristics are essential in a sugar beet variety for Beeswax Dyson Farming Ltd agronomist Ben Abell.

Responsible for the agronomy of 13,000 ha’s of arable cropping across three sites in Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, Ben points out that on the Lincolnshire farms sugar beet remains a key break crop adding much needed diversity to the rotation.

High yields, sugar content and good all-round agronomics such as bolting resistance and robust disease resistance, are important for a variety to be successful on farm; it’s the combination of characteristics that really matters,” he acknowledges.

“Last year we grew BTS 1140 and BTS 3325 both which meet these criteria, and considering the difficulties with getting the crop out of the ground, we were very pleased with the yields. Our average adjusted yield was 87- 96t/ha across the sites, giving us an overall average of 93t/ha.”

“We aim to get the beet drilled by the end of March; drilling starts as soon as conditions and soil temperatures are favourable from the beginning of March. It’s really important to plant varieties according to their most appropriate drilling date; so we always grow several varieties at one time.”

“Varieties more suited to the early slot such as BTS 3325 are drilled first, and we then move onto varieties such as BTS 1140, which are better suited for the normal drilling slot from mid-March onwards.”

Ron Granger, Limagrain’s sugar beet product manager agrees with Ben’s approach, pointing out that whilst yield and sugar content are the top criteria for choosing a new sugar beet variety, factors such as establishment and bolting tolerance are also very important – particularly when deciding which variety is best suited for a certain situation.

Ron notes that sugar beet breeding is in the fortunate position where breeders are still able to push yields without compromising the sugar content - and this is at a time when many other arable crop yields have plateaued.

“This is why growers are able to access varieties such as BTS 1140 that are high yielding but also offer a high sugar content.”

“Based on this, BTS 1140 continues to be one of the leading tried and tested varieties on the 2020-2021 BBRO recommended List, and there is no reason to think that this will change, due to its proven performance on farm.”

“Its reliability of performance along with good foliar disease tolerance for rust and powdery mildew, as well as excellent downy mildew resistance, make it an all-round favourite.”

Getting sugar beet up and away

Cultivations for sugar beet at Dyson Beeswax are focussed around ploughing in early autumn, leaving the soils to weather over the winter, followed in the spring, by one pass with the cultivator in front of the drill.

“The sugar beet is drilled at 1.2 units/ha which working on 80% establishment gives us about 100,000 plants, depending on the field or site.”

Ben’s aim is to get the sugar beet established and up to the 12 leaf stage as soon as possible, as this gives it the best chance against flea beetle and virus yellows damage.

“So early nutrition is important,” he says. “This spring as the soils were wetter and colder, at establishment we applied phosphate in the form of DAP into the seedbed, promoting crucial early root and shoot development.”

“We also keep a keen eye on trace elements, topping up whatever is deficient,” he points out.

“So far we have not seen too many aphids but will obviously continue to monitor this - we want to avoid spraying if we can. At least we have the fall back of Biscaya or Tepeki if we need.”

“We have found organic manures applied in the late summer to autumn are important to help make the soils more resilient, which definitely paidoff in last year’s very wet conditions,” explains Ben.

“We trialled a third of our crop using just digestate last year, so no manufactured fertiliser was used, instead opting for a mixture of home produced solid and liquid digestate, applied pre-drilling in the seedbed.”

“The digestate is high in potassium, which is needed by the sugar beet, so it’s a perfect solution. Yield results from this crop were very good averaging 96t/ha.”

“There’s no doubt the condition of the soil has a big influence on late season campaigning, he adds. “In the right conditions, crops can put on a lot of yield in late season if you have the resilience in the soil to manage later lifting, then you can take advantage of this, and I think we certainly saw the benefits of this, this year with the later lifting of some crops, he adds.

“Looking ahead we shall have to see what happens with pricing of course, we are trying some new varieties, BTS 4100, Kortessa and Advena, as well as sticking with BTS 1140 and BTS 3325.”

We also have the challenges of loss of chemistry to contend with; it’s going to be difficult to find an effective replacement with the loss of desmedipham for weed control.”

BTS 4100 joins the 2020 BBRO Recommended List with the highest sugar content of any sugar beet variety, whilst also offering high yields and low bolting counts at early sowing.

Bred by Betaseed and marketed by Limagrain UK, BTS 4100 offers the highest sugar content of any sugar beet variety on the list at 18.4%, and has produced these high sugar levels consistently over the last three years in Recommended List trials.

“In 2016, BTS 4100 yielded 18%, whilst the average sugar percentage across the RL trials was 17.7%. In 2017 when the national average was 18.4%, BTS 4100 yielded 0.6% more at 19%. In 2018, the national average was 17.8% and BTS 4100 again yielded 0.6% more, at 18.4%,” says Ron Granger, sugar beet product manager at Limagrain.

“Growers will recognise that on certain soil types or in difficult field conditions, a high sugar content can be hard to achieve; in these situations a variety such as BTS 4100 with a genetically high sugar content offers the best insurance for maximising full yield potential, as expressed in adjusted tonnes”.

Along with these extremely high sugar levels, BTS 4100 offers high adjusted tonne yields of 101.8% -reflecting a step-up over some of the older varieties on the list.

However, whilst yield and sugar content are the top criteria for choosing a new sugar beet variety, factors such as establishment and bolting tolerance are also very important – particularly when deciding which variety is best for your situation, adds Mr Granger.

“For those looking to drill in the first half of March, in an attempt to get crops up and away to combat virus yellows infection, BTS 4100 fits this drilling slot very well. It has excellent bolting tolerance and is one of only a few varieties on the RL, that offers no bolters when drilled in the normal sowing slot.”

“This is combined with good emergence characteristics and a good tolerance to rust. It is also Rhizomania tolerant.” To sum up, BTS 4100 is a high yielding variety with the potential of achieving a top sugar percentage, and also fits the early drilling slot.”

Newly recommended sugar beet variety BTS 1140 reflects the increasing yield potential of sugar beet. This comes hand in hand with excellent sugar content and favourable on-farm agronomics such as low bolting figures at normal sowing date and very good disease resistance.

Bred by Betaseed, and marketed by agents Limagrain UK, the 2019 BBRO Recommended List (RL) clearly shows that the yield potential of BTS 1140 is significantly above the most widely grown varieties in 2018, yielding 107.6 % (adjusted tonnes), over three years of trials. BTS 1140 also has a high sugar content of 18%.

This significant 2-3% increase in yields seen each year in newly recommended sugar beet varieties on the RL is very exciting for the UK’s sugar beet growers. This year the newly recommended varieties offer a 7.6% increase over the control varieties, says Bram Van der Have, sugar beet consultant for Limagrain.

“We are in the fortunate position where breeders are still able to push yields without compromising the sugar content – and this is at a time when many other arable crop yields have plateaued.”

However, the value and importance of on-farm characteristics of sugar beet to UK growers is also reflected in this recommendation, he adds. “Whilst yield and sugar content are the top criteria for choosing a new sugar beet variety, factors such as establishment and bolting tolerance are also very important – particularly when deciding which variety is the best for a certain situation.”

“For those looking to drill at the normal to later time from mid-March onwards, as most growers will have done this season, BTS 1140 fits this drilling slot very well. It has excellent bolting tolerance – with only 14 bolters per 1000,000 plants/ha – one of the lowest on the RL list. This is combined with good emergence characteristics and a good tolerance to rust. It is also rhizomania tolerant.” “BTS 1140 is likely to appeal to the grower who wants to take the next step up in yields, and we would encourage growers to try it and take part in raising the bar in sugar beet production even higher.”

2017 saw some of the highest sugar beet yields ever; Limagrain’s varieties BTS 860 and BTS 3325 were no exception and lend themselves well for repeat sowing for the 2019 season.

In fact, BTS 860 was one of the most popular varieties grown in 2017/18 as it has shown itself to be a consistent performer that offers very high yields at 103.9% of controls, alongside one of the highest sugar contents on the Recommended List at 18.2%, says Mr Van der Have.

“Annually, a small part of the national crop is drilled in the early part of March. Early Sown bolting tolerance for varieties sown this early is a key characteristic and BTS 3325 has proven performance in this sector, both commercially and in trials.”

“BTS 3325 has the potential to out-yield many of the traditional varieties drilled in the early sown sector, with the additional benefits of a very high sugar content (18.3%), and excellent disease resistance for rust and powdery mildew.”

HIGH PERFORMANCE ON-FARM

Michael Wilton of Stody Estate in Norfolk, is always looking for the best performing sugar beet varieties on the Recommended List which means he only grows an individual variety for two-three years.

“I want a variety that is high yielding with a good, quick establishment percentage as I believe that the two things go hand in hand. A consistent high sugar percentage which increases sugar yield per hectare is what we ultimately get paid for.”

“We grow 240ha’s of sugar beet which is split across 4 varieties. I drill after 5th March, so am looking for a normal drilling, low bolting variety.”

For these reasons Mr Wilton chose to trial 60ha’s of BTS 860 in 2017. “The crop established very well, even on lighter soils. What stood out was its green leaf retention which was good right through the season, so yields continued to build until harvest, which made the variety suitable for late lifting.”

“All of the BTS 860 yielded slightly above the farm average, but one single field that was irrigated stood out, giving us our highest field yield for 2017 at 112t/ha adjusted yields. This well up on our average farm yields by about 15%. The late lifting also delivered sugars above the farm average of 18% at 18.6%.”

“Based on this excellent performance, we will definitely be growing the variety again this year.”