Evaluation location: Texas, United States
In years past, it has been possible to evaluate plants in each plot of individual accessions forinfection by Fusarium and Aphanomyces. However, this year, disease was so severe and so earlythat these two diseases could not be distinguished. Ratings constitute an evaluation of the overall severity of the disease caused by a complex of pathogens. This complex, that includesprimarily Aphanomyces cochlioides and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. betae, is not uncommon formany beet growing areas in the Western United States. Although in previous years, we havebeen able to distinguish between infection by Aphanomyces and Fusarium, undoubtedly manybeets were infected by both pathogens. The field evaluations for Aphanomyces and Fusariumroot rot at Bushland are actually evaluating disease caused by the two pathogens.