How to fit sugar beet into more sustainable rotation

New genetics offer greater flexibility

New genetics, advanced seed and herbicide technologies are making sugar beet an increasingly beneficial addition to arable rotations.

“It’s a superb break crop,” says KWS UK AgroService sugar beet manager Martin Brown.

“Pest, disease and weed problems that may have built up in cereal-based rotations can be effectively dealt with plus sugar beet can improve soil and help in the management of key nutrients.

“As a spring crop, cover crops grown through the previous winter can add vital or-ganic matter to soil while BBRO research has shown such an approach reduces compaction and has higher earthworm populations.”

Planning rotations

Planning of sugar beet in the rotation often revolves around what is to be grown af-terwards with this dictating when the ideal time for lifting is, he explains.

“Decisions around lifting date are largely practical. As well as the type of crop to fol-low sugar beet, soil type and its ability to allow harvest machinery to travel later in the season are also key.

“While lifting can be influenced by sowing date and in a perfect world drilling from the second week of March is ideal, in reality the more variable spring conditions now experienced mean people drill when conditions allow.

“This puts an increased emphasis on choosing the right variety and any enhanced technologies that can help a grower achieve a specific target harvest date.

“So, if you want to drill your following wheat crop in October with KWS Dawsum, for example, you are best going for a sugar beet variety that you can drill early with perhaps a lower disease resistance.

“Initio EarlyPower seed treatment will also help plants emerge, establish and grow more uniformly in these circumstances leading to less agronomic intervention through the growing cycle.

“Good early drillers include our new variety Josephina KWS which has the high-est sugar content on the BBRO list with the lowest number of bolters in early sown trials.

“Harryetta KWS is another low bolting variety being the highest yielding BCN toler-ant variety and the second highest yielding variety for 2024.”

Maximising yields

If the objective is to maximise yield and leave the crop as long as possible before lifting, then a different set of criteria comes into play, Martin Brown explains.

“It could be that you’re planning on using a later drilling wheat like KWS Extase or you’re on a parcel of land that you don’t want to get on to until the following Febru-ary, for example.

“In such cases a variety with good disease resistance should be chosen and if you’re leaving the crop in the ground over winter, one with good canopy protection is essential.”

New Chyma KWS makes a good later drilling choice with its CR+ Cercospora tol-erance and the highest untreated yield of any variety on the 2025 Sugar Beet RL plus no obvious weakness in its disease profile, he says.

“Cercospora Leaf Spot is one of the most destructive leaf diseases in sugar beet and can reduce crop yields by 50%. With CR+, the Cercospora leaf spots appear later and the disease progression is slowed down considerably.

“Another new variety Smart Uma KWS is also a sound choice with its Conviso tech-nology not only helping with weed control in the sugar beet crop, but also with workloads across the rotation.

“Developed by KWS and Bayer, the Conviso Smart system reduces herbicide ap-plications through the development of specific varieties resistant to the Conviso One herbicide, such as Smart Uma KWS.

“With only one application needed for highly effective control of a broad spectrum of weeds in sugar beet, the system simplifies herbicide choice whilst also freeing up time for spray operators across all crops and helps them apply chemistry at the time it is most effective.

“Daphna KWS is also a great option for a long growing season with proven perfor-mance across many years featuring BCN tolerance and good leaf scores, too.”