The control of the sources of virus yellows of sugar-beet

Abstract

The means whereby sugar-beet yellows viruses and their predominant vector, Myzus persicac (Sulz.), overwinter in Britain are reviewed. M. persicae overwinters mainly on cultivated secondary host plants that are not associated with the viruses: the viruses overwinter principally in the mangold and sugar-beet seed crops, which are the main source of infection in the following summer; mangold clamps may be a minor source and weeds seem unimportant.Despite autumn certification of first-year sugar-beet seed crops, visible infection within them in the following June is never negligible, and rapid spread of virus within these crops during their second year can cause a high proportion of the plants therein to be infective, although still symptomless. The many aphids that may leave these crops and the uncertified seed crops are an important source of infection for the root crop.It is suggested as a new control measure that seed crops of beet and mangolds should be grown in Britain in alternate years only. Consideration of the low frequencies of winds of a speed and direction suitable for carrying viruliferous aphids from Continental beet-growing areas to Britain, and of the low incidence of virus yellows in areas of Britain that are free of seed crops and comparable, in distance and direction relative to the main British beet-growing areas, with those of the latter in relation to the Continent, suggests that the effectiveness of the proposed measure is unlikely to be nullified by intrusion of infected aphids from the Continent.