NVESTIGATION AND MEASUREMENT OF FIELD DISEASES OF SELECTED TROPICAL SUGARBEET AND BEETROOT

Abstract

An experiment was conducted for detection, identification and measurement of diseases of selected tropical sugarbeet and beetroot under natural field conditions at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from December 2020 to April 2021.Three different varieties of sugarbeet viz. KWS Allanya, KWS Serenada, KWS Gregoria and three different varieties of beetroot viz. Rokto, Beet King and Red Ball were used in this experiment. Sugarbeet varieties were collected from Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute, Ishurdi, Pabna and the beetroot varieties were collected from Siddiqbazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The disease incidence and severity were recorded under natural condition at different Days after sowing (DAS). Yield and yield contributing characters of sugarbeet and beetroot plant were also recorded as the part of this study. Three fungal diseases were found in sugarbeet field namely Sclerotium root rot caused by Sclerotium roilfsii, Fusarium yellows caused by Fusarium oxysporum and Cercospora leaf spot caused by Cercospora beticola. However, two diseases were found in beetroot field namely Alternaria leaf spot caused by Alternaria alternata and leaf blight caused by Fusarium oxysporum. At 100 DAS the highest sclerotium root rot disease incidence was recorded in KWS Serenada (32.37%). At 105 DAS, the highest disease incidence of Fusarium yellows was recorded in KWS Gregoria (25.73%). At 105 DAS the highest disease incidence of Cercospora leaf spot was recorded in KWS Allanya (29.43%). Plant height varied from 29.53 cm to 61.87 cm. Number of leaves varied from 9.87 to 20.33. Whole plant weight varied from 1.50kg to1.73kg from the selected three variety of sugarbeet. At 95 DAS, the disease incidence of Alternaria leaf spot was counted where the highest disease incidence was recorded in Red Ball (30.23%). At 100 DAS, the highest disease incidence of leaf blight of beetroot was recorded in Beet King (21.57%). Plant height varied from 22.27 cm to 37.70 cm. Number of leaves varied from 8.40 to 15.67. Whole plant weight varied from 0.57 kg to 0.67 kg from the variety of beetroot. Depending on the disease incidence and severity, the major diseases of inspected sugarbeet and beetroot plants were; Sclerotium root rot, Fusarium yellows, Cercospora leaf spot, Alternaria leaf spot and leaf blight.