 This is the SugarBeat Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season. Today, we're discussing some of the common soil-borne diseases that affect sugar beets. Our guest is Dr. Ashok Chanda, Extension Sugar Beet Pathologist with the University of Minnesota and Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston, Minnesota. Ashok, what are some soil-borne diseases that affect sugar beet production in our growing area? The beets are planted a couple of weeks earlier this year compared to last year, which also means that the soil is slightly warmer, which is very conducive for soil-borne diseases of sugar beet. In our growing area, we typically worry about rhizectonia root rot, eponymizes root rot, and fissuring mellos. But out of three, rhizectonia is pretty widespread in our growing area. Why is rhizectonia widespread and what can growers do to manage it? The thing about rhizectonia is it can infect not only sugar beets, but some of the crops that are grown in rotation, such as soybeans, corn, and edible beans. So the best strategy for managing rhizectonia diseases is to have a seed with a seed treatment that's effective for seedling phase of the disease we call it, damping up. And as the beets get to four to eight leaf stage, the growers can apply a variety of sites such as azoxis, robin, elone, or in different combinations. Most of the growers are doing a banned application or a broadcast application. And in the last few years, our studies have indicated that either application is very good at managing rhizectonia. What about managing eponymizes? Eponymizes is favored by warmer soil temperatures and also it needs lots and lots of moisture. You know, when you think of a rhizectonia, it just needs a lot of moderate moisture. And eponymizes can stay in the soil pretty dormant for up to 10 years because it can make these very tough walled spores that can survive in the soil under adverse conditions. And most of the sugar beet seed contains the seed treatment, which is tachycarin, which is very effective for seedling phase of the disease. But several growers are also using five to 10 tons of baseline per acre, you know, which has been very effective for managing the root rot phase that's caused by eponymizes. How can growers take care of fissurium issues? There are certainly some fields which are hard spot for fissurium. And in the last few years, we have seen some fissurium showing up early in the season, especially, you know, when it was very hot and dry. To think about fissurium, you see some yellowing on the leaves. Sometimes it's only half of the leaf or the full leaf. And you don't see any symptoms on the surface of the root. You know, you have to cut these roots horizontally and then you can see some darkening, which is nothing but the fissurium that's blocking the water transportation in the roots. The only thing that the growers can do for fissurium right now is make note of it. And then next time they grow the beets, they have to select a variety with genetic tolerance to fissurium. Are you offering sugar beet disease diagnosis this year? Yes, Bruce. Thanks to the Sugar Beet Research and Education Board with the help of funding from this board, we are able to offer this service to the growers again this year. You can talk to your agricultureist. If you have some problem beets in particular field, they can pull some samples and send it to our sugar beet pathology lab in Crookston. We are located right next to the University of Minnesota Crookston campus. So typically we get back to the growers within 44 to 72 hours with the underlying problem so the growers can stay ahead of the disease issues in particular fields. Thanks Ashok. Our guest has been Dr. Ashok Chanda, extension sugar beet pathologist with the University of Minnesota and Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston, Minnesota. This is the Sugar Beet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season.