Comparison between varieties in Italy and in Europe
2000
Tugnoli, V. (Associazione Nazionale Bieticoltori, Bologna (Italy))
To evaluate the productive behaviour and genetic aptitudes of different types of seed widely sold in Italy and in Europe, the ANB working in collaboration with European breeders has conducted tests on 3 harvest periods since 1996 in a number of Northern European countries and in Italy. A comparison between the two-year periods 1996-97 and 1998-99 shows a bigger increase in root yield for Italian varieties whilst polarization remained practically constant, with European types registering a slight fall in the first two-year period and a noticeable reduction in the second. Conversely, average results for the European varieties show a bigger increase in polarization and root yield from one period to the next. Qualitative parameters (PSD) for all types of seed tested over the four years remained constant in Italy, whilst Europe on average showed an increase. From the various tests conducted it can be deduced that the genetic selections proposed currently for Italian growers are able to give positive results provided that the needs repeatedly stated by the ANB, to maximize root yield are taken into account, a requirement typical for the Italian beet growing industry and one by which Northern European growers are unaffected, operating as they do in a climate that naturally favours root growth. The noticeable reduction in polarization observed in these last two campaigns, characterized by heavy rainfall from mid-September onwards, compared to the drought conditions of the previous two-year period, is considerably worrying in terms of the negative impact on gross saleable farm produce figures. It is to be hoped that genetic selection will provide answers to meet the expectations of Italian beet growers.
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