Abstract
A CSM-CERES-Beet pest damage routine was modified to simulate the impact of Cercospora leaf spot disease effects on sugar beet yield. Foliar disease effects on sugar beet growth and yield were incorporated as daily damage to leaf area and photosynthesis, which was linked to daily crop growth and biomass accumulation. An experiment was conducted in Southwest Germany (2016–2018) with different levels of disease infection. Data collected included time-series leaf area index, top weight, storage root weight and Cercospora leaf spot disease progress. The model was calibrated using statistical and visual fit for one treatment and evaluated for eight treatments over three years. Model performance of the calibration treatment for all three variables resulted in R2 values higher than 0.82 and d-statistics higher than 0.94. Evaluation treatments for all three observation groups resulted in high R2 and d-statistics with few exceptions mainly caused by weather extremes. Root mean square error values for calibration and evaluation treatments were satisfactory. Model statistics indicate that the approach can be used as a suitable decision support system to simulate the impact of observed Cercospora leaf spot damage on accumulated above-ground biomass and storage root yield on a plot/site-specific scale.
Highlights
The EU is the largest producer of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) in the world with approximately 50%of global production [1]
As Cercospora leaf spot disease was introduced as damage on cumulative leaf area per plot, top and storage root weight were considered as important indicators of the overall model performance
leaf area index (LAI), top weight and storage on root curves fewer fluctuations when when compared among each other than observations the sameshowed sampling dates across different compared other than observations the same sampling dates across different treatments among (Figureseach and LAI was on underestimated compared to observed values treatments and 8).(Table
Summary
The EU is the largest producer of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) in the world with approximately 50%of global production [1]. 20% of global sugar is produced from sugar beet [1]. Due to the abolishment of the production quotas, the EU farmers have increased sugar beet production. In 2017, cultivated area used for sugar beet production increased by 17.2% compared to 2016 [1]. The sudden drop in harvested amount of sugar beet was very likely caused by recorded drought conditions and not quota abolishment related price volatility [1]. Based on the general economic theory with market defined prices, more volatility is to be expected in sugar beet pricing, which will affect production quantities in the EU. The increase in sugar beet production in 2017 led to a fall in prices by an average of 5.4% in Agronomy 2020, 10, 1930; doi:10.3390/agronomy10121930 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy
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