Cercospora Leaf Spot Disease of Sugar Beet

Cercospora leaf spot, incited by the fungus Cercospora beticola Sacc., is the most widespread and damaging sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) foliar disease. Under favorable for the disease agro-climatic conditions, insufficient control of epidemics leads to significant sugar yield reduction and consequent heavy economic losses. Disease control strategies basically rely on a combination of fungicide applications, growing resistant cultivars, and appropriate crop rotation. The need for a more efficient and sustainable disease management, primarily dictates the production of varieties with elevated genetic resistance and the rational use of chemical treatments to avoid the development of pathogen resistance to fungicides. Both classical and molecular breeding approaches are followed to obtain better resisting varieties, the main aims being the exploitation of additional genetic variation from natural gene pools as well as the incorporation of novel resistance traits through genetic engineering. Alternating and combining fungicides differing in mode of action, restricted use of chemicals easily provoking pathogen resistance as well as systematic risk assessment for resistance development when incorporating any novel compound, could ensure a prolonged effectiveness of the spraying programs. Designing and employing various effective integrated pest management systems is hoped to contribute towards a more effective and environmentally sound disease control.