Vertical Distribution of Heterodera schachtii under Susceptible, Resistant, or Tolerant Sugar Beet Cultivars.

Abstract

Heterodera schachtii is managed by rotation with non-hosts, resistant cover crops, and resistant and tolerant sugar beet cultivars. Microplots 60 cm deep and 30 cm in diameter containing steamed field soil were (i) noninfested or infested with 550 H. schachtii eggs per 100 g at (ii) 0 to 60 cm, (iii) 0 to 30 cm or (iv) 30 to 60 cm in depth. Plots were planted to susceptible, resistant, and tolerant sugar beets. Five weeks later, the sugar beet canopy was largest in condition i, smallest in condition ii, and intermediate in conditions iii and iv. White sugar yield (WSY) was highest in condition i, second in condition iv, lowest in condition ii, and intermediate in condition iii. Cultivar-specific final nematode numbers were independent of the level of infestation. In two experiments utilizing 1-m2 microplots, naturally occurring H. schachtii populations were suppressed with fosthiazate at depth layers in reverse to those infested in the first experiment, and planted to susceptible, resistant, and tolerant sugar beets. In one experiment, WSY was highest in soil treated with fosthiazate at 0 to 60 cm in depth, lowest in nontreated, unaffected in soil treated at 30 to 60 cm in depth, and somewhat lower in soil treated at 0 to 30 cm in depth. In all cultivars, early root penetration predicted canopy diameter; only in the susceptible cultivar did the canopy diameter predict WSY. Deep-occurring H. schachtii can impact productivity in sugar beet cropping.