Increasing yields is now a top priority for researchers supporting the development of one of East Anglia's most prevalent crops.
Sugar beet growers gathered at Morley Farms near Wymondham this week to hear how new research and technological advances could help them eke more from their acres.
Organised by the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO), the event featured demonstration areas across the farm with varieties on the 2018 Recommended List, compiled by the BBRO and British Society of Plant Breeders.
One of the list's six new varieties, Daphna, achieved a yield of 7% over controls during stringent field trials.
Mike May, RL Board chairman, said earlier issues with bolting in high-yielding varieties – when the plant flowers and produces seeds instead of building sugar in the root – had been mostly resolved.
'At the moment we are looking for yield, but the breeders in the background are doing a lot of work on disease tolerance and building virus resistance,' he said.
'Daphna is now the top-yielding variety and is BCN-tolerant, which is quite remarkable.
'It shows our breeding techniques can be used to move things on. We are looking at what the better lines are and often there is a big yield improvement.'
Crop nutrition research is also a factor in the debate. BBRO is leading a series of trials on the effects of adjusted nitrogen and phosphorus levels in soil on eight beet varieties across six locations.
Knowledge exchange and crop progression lead Dr Simon Bowen said: 'We have strong recommendations which have been gathered over a number of years for no more than 120kg [of nitrogen] per hectare.
'There are question marks over more nitrogen adjustment for harvest date and what different varieties need.
'We're hoping to move away from the blueprint of sugar beet, the 'one size fits all' approach.'
A new project between the BBRO and Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is also underway into the effects of soil biology on crop establishment and yield.
Dr Elizabeth Stockdale from Newcastle University, who is taking part in the research, said: 'We are developing trials for farmers to get a better opportunity to not only look at the soil but to understand how their management practises are affecting soil biology and health, and how we may be able to manage it to affect your soil biology going forward.'
Trials are also underway to improve crop establishment, with the BBRO aiming to improve the 80% average to reach 100,000 plants per hectare.
Trials officer Gina Gould said: 'It is now about making sure people had the right seed set-up and drilling.'
Neonicotinoids were also under the microscope. In preparation for a possible ban on the pesticides BBRO researchers based at Norwich Research Park are experimenting with incremental changes to beet genetics to increase crops' natural resistance.
Field trials have also recently started to investigate the effects of aphid species responsible for beet yellows virus, which can decrease yield by up to 50%, across 30 sugar beet-growing areas.
Dr Mark Stevens, BBRO scientific and crop stability lead, said: 'We rely on neonicotinoids to protect the beet from about 15 different pests. We rely on them to keep the crops virus-free, but we are looking for alternative strategies.
'We are currently trying to identify ways of providing that protection, such as encouraging growers to use classical crop hygiene, and we are doing a lot of work in the lab and on the field looking at novel insecticides.'
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