The effect of infection with beet yellows virus on the growth of sugarbeet

Abstract

Sugarbeet infected with beet yellows virus (BYV) are stunted. The leaves are yellow, brittle and necrotic and smaller than those of healthy plants. The yellowing and necrosis and the smaller leaf area doubtless all diminish photosynthesis and thus lead to smaller storage roots. The beard of fibrous roots dose to the tap root of plants in the field with yellows suggests that the virus also affects th e feeding roots. The extent to which these morphologica l differences between healthy plants and plants with BYV can account for the differences in yield was investigated in water culture in a glasshouse of the Soils and Nutrition De­ partment, University of California, Berkeley.