Assessment of sugar beet hybrids acording to their morphological and root quality characteristics

Abstract

Sugar beet is the most important plant for sugar production in Europe and other temperate climate regions of the world. Broad genetic diversity is crucial for successful breeding program. The main objective of this study was to evaluate 10 sugar beet hybrids based on their morphological and root quality traits and to determine which genotypes are preferable source for new gene collection and selection program. The trial was performed during the growing season of 2016 on the fields of the Institute of field and vegetable crops, at location Rimski Šančevi. Among the explored genotypes, two were from domestic breeding centers while eight belonged to foreign seed institutions. Standardized mean values of all characteristics were used for analysis. The evaluation included Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for the following traits: root weight (g), root length (cm), root diameter (cm), root volume (cm3), root/head ratio (%) specific root weight (g/cm3) and sugar content (%). According to results significant level of diversity was found for all examined traits. Four principal components with their values of 50,2%; 24,4%; 11,9% and 10,4% determined total variance by the amount of 97,96%. Investigated genotypes could be divided into four distinct groups.