Sugar beet New technology bolsters beet
EXPERT VIEW Better sugar beet varieties mean much- needed efficiencies for Britain’s growers, says Ian Munnery.
S
ophisticated new technologies – from advanced genetics to un- manned aerial vehicles – are be-
ing employed in the search for ever improved sugar beet varieties. Back in the day, human eye and ex- perience were key to finding new, im- proved varieties of sugar beet. Skilled technicians walked field trials where seed from hundreds of different cross- es were grown, looking out for those plants that looked just right. Harvest involved lifting and bag-
ging sample after sample which went off for lengthy detailed analysis. Today, technology has an ever-increasing role – with genetic analysis enabling the likely outcome of any cross to be pre- dicted with more certainty. By understanding the genetic ‘fin- gerprint’ of a plant’s parents, it is ever easier to identify and combine key traits that are likely to result in im- proved new lines leading to ever bet- ter varieties in the field.
Clear understanding Advances in genetic science have reached a point where, should the UK government accept gene editing as an aid to breeding, it will be possible to combine desired traits with ever more accuracy and certainty.
As a company devoted to sugar beet breeding worldwide, SESVanderHave invests more than 15% of its turnover in research and development. This means we already have a very
clear understanding of the contents of our ‘genetic toolbox’; a well-stocked li- brary of information and knowledge of how these translate into different en- vironments around the world. This is why genetic promise must
still be field-tested locally. To understand the way a variety responds to its environment (soil, cli- mate, topography) is known as pheno- typing. Field performance is a combi- nation of both the phenotype and the genotype (the genetic make-up). So field assessment is still impor-
tant, but science can also play a part here to broaden, accelerate and ampli-
54 ANGLIA FARMER • JUNE 2021
fy our data collection. Aerial observa- tions by drones equipped to analyse plants using a range of spectra means each plant can be assessed, but at a far faster rate than the most skilled tech- nician walking the rows.
Combating disease What’s more, aerial technology ob- serves and measures consistently throughout the operating period – something few humans can achieve. But data gathered must still be sense checked and the experience of field teams provides added context. In Belgium, a project called ‘Beet- Phen’ has evaluated digital field phe- notyping methods in a collaboration between SESVanderHave, Vito Re- mote Sensing and the Walloon Agri- cultural Research Centre, funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office. The initial aim is to provide plant breeders with a fast, efficient way to detect and measure disease infections with sup- port from artificial learning and machine intelligence. Understanding how varieties respond will be increasingly important as climate change alters the spec- trum of disease that threatens beet pro- duction.
Even at har-
vest, technology can aid the breed- er’s work. Near Infra- red Spectroscopy (NIRS) is well-es-
Drones and satellite images are increasingly used in plant breeding
Breeding
techniques are becoming more accurate, says Ian Munnery (below)
tablished in assessing grains. Now NIRs will bring benefits to trials har- vesting.
Important traits
NIR analysis on-board a mobile tare- house will enable the trials teams aboard the harvester to lift, weigh and analyse the crop from each small plot for important traits such as sug- ar content and dry matter.
Modern communications ensure data from each plot is recorded in the laboratory before the harvester has left the field. This information joins the historic data sets from parent lines to provide enhanced assurance of how the variety will perform. SESVanderHave UK draws on glob- al expertise and advances in science and technology. But our goal remains to develop thoroughly tried and test- ed varieties to ensure they match the unique needs of Britain’s growers. Our latest variety to be add- ed to the BBRO Recommended List is Wren, which has emerged from more than a decade of re- search to identify new varieties offering robust performance,
in
terms of establishment, root yield and low bolting – whatever the season. Sugar beet is one of the few UK
crops to have shown significant in- creases in performance over the past decade or more. But there is much more to come as science and technology is applied with ever more sophistication to crop and seed treatment technology.
Ian Munnery is UK director for SESVanderHave. For more details, visit
www.sesvanderhave.com/uk or call 01522 442000.
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