Beet seed processor’s tests highlight impact of cold conditions

(Farmers Guardian) – SUGAR beet seed processor Germains appeared to be attributing this season’s emergence problems to the cold weather as it released its own report into the problems experienced by growers this week.

Following on from the British Beet Research Organisation’s interim report into the emergence problems, Germains is standing by its claims that its Xbeet plus seed priming and pelleting system offers benefits to growers.

Seed treatment

Commercial sugar beet seed was treated with Xbeet plus for the first time for planting in spring 2013 and questions have been raised about the effects of the priming treatment on beet seedlings developing under cold conditions.

In a statement released this week, Germains said it had undertaken an extensive investigation, in parallel to that of the BBRO, to understand more about the reasons why this season’s unusual emergence occurred.

Dr Gerard Mulqueen, Germains business unit director for sugar beet said: “As part of this investigation, we developed a stress test which mimicked, as closely as possible, the unprecedented and prolonged cold temperatures experienced earlier this year.”

According to Germains, a key finding of this test was that the combination of the very cold temperatures and the amount of time seed and seedlings were exposed to these low temperatures had a considerable impact on sugar beet emergence.

Dr Mulqueen says: “Xbeet plus continues to offer a significant benefit over and above Xbeet and unprimed seed, even under cold, dry and stressful conditions.

“Based on our own investigation and the results published by the BBRO, we believe Xbeet plus continues to offer significant potential yield benefits for growers.”

The BBRO report, released earlier this month, concluded this spring’s emergence issues had been caused by a number of interacting factors, but ‘the prevailing weather during the sowing period played a significant role in triggering these problems’.

At last week’s NFU Council, NFU Sugar chairman William Martin acknowledged growers’ frustration at the lack of any firm explanation for the beet crop emergence abnormalities.

He told the meeting it was possible the problems arose not as a result of a single cause, but from a set of circumstances.

Growers have been offered the option of specifying Xbeet or Xbeet Plus on certain varieties for planting in 2014.