| Abstract: | Annual bolting sugar beets have contaminated fields in England and represent a potential hazard through their seed production capability (up to 150 viable seed/plant), which could make them an important weed in arable crops, and through their pollen production, which could lead to a degeneration in varieties of sugar beet being grown for seed nearby. Although control by rotation and herbicides in other crops are probably the easiest effective control measures, up to 100% reduction in seed production in the sugar beet crop resulted from bolter pulling, topping or treatment with a 100 g a.e./litre glyphosate solution (1 ml/plant) early in July. The glyphosate damaged other plants which it reached. Whichever control method is selected, mechanisation seems possible. |
