Correlation between yield and qualitative traits of sugar beet cultivars with rhizomania disease indices under field infection conditions

Correlation between yield and qualitative traits of sugar beet cultivars with rhizomania disease indices under field infection conditionsAbstractBackground and ObjectivesRhizomania viral disease is one of the limiting factors of sugar beet cultivation and significantly reduces its yield. The most important way to deal with this disease is to use resistant cultivars. Materials and MethodsIn order to evaluate the correlation between yield and qualitative traits of sugar beet cultivars with rhizomania disease indices, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 12 different sugar beet cultivars in four replications in field with natural infection with rhizomania in 2018. The traits studied in this study included root yield, sugar content, sugar yield, white sugar content, white sugar yield, sodium, potassium, trace nitrogen, alkalinity, sugar extraction coefficient, leaf growth score, root growth score, disease severity and ELISA test index (OD). Analysis of variance was performed using SAS v.9.1 statistical software. Mean comparisons of traits were performed using LSD test at the probability level of 5 and 1%. ResultsAnalysis of variance showed significant differences among genotypes for all studied traits except for sodium and potassium. Cluster analysis of yield, crop quality as well as rhizomania severity of infection divided the sugar beet cultivars into three groups. Correlation between traits in a rhizomania infected field and different levels of resistance to rhizomania was different. DiscussionIn all cultivars with different levels of resistance, there was a significant correlation between pure sugar yield with leaf growth score (r = 0.95 **), root growth score (r = 0.94 **), disease severity (r = 0.92 **) and ELISA index (r = -0.68 **) was observed. Therefore, these traits are suitable indicators for evaluation of cultivars for suseptibility or resistance to rhizomania disease. In addition, correlation between leaf growth index and ELISA (r = 0.87 **), root growth score (r = -0.85 **) and disease severity (r = -0.60 *) was significant.Correlation between yield and qualitative traits of sugar beet cultivars with rhizomania disease indices under field infection conditionsBackground and ObjectivesRhizomania viral disease is one of the limiting factors of sugar beet cultivation and significantly reduces its yield. The most important way to deal with this disease is to use resistant cultivars. Materials and MethodsIn order to evaluate the correlation between yield and qualitative traits of sugar beet cultivars with rhizomania disease indices, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 12 different sugar beet cultivars in four replications in field with natural infection with rhizomania in 2018. The traits studied in this study included root yield, sugar content, sugar yield, white sugar content, white sugar yield, sodium, potassium, trace nitrogen, alkalinity, sugar extraction coefficient, leaf growth score, root growth score, disease severity and ELISA test index (OD). Analysis of variance was performed using SAS v.9.1 statistical software. Mean comparisons of traits were performed using LSD test at the probability level of 5 and 1%.