Beet stress this spring with Bridgeway
With sugar beet crops particularly prone to abiotic stress, and an already stressy start to the new season, amino acid biostimulant Bridgeway could be a vital tool for growers looking to beat stress and protect potential.
Establishing a fit, healthy and stress-free sugar beet crop from the get-go sets the foundation for high-yielding beat crops with robust sugars. High yields come from producing a full leaf canopy that intercepts 90% of incoming sunlight as quickly as possible and maintains its greenness right through the growing season.
Download Bridgeway sugar beet guide here to learn more
Abiotic stresses impacting beet health:
- Cold temperatures impact establishment
- Water stress limits leaf and tap root growth
- High temperatures and UV become additional stresses in a drought
- N shortage impacts top and root growth
Whilst abiotic stress will impact yield potential in all crops, sugar beet is particularly sensitive. Beet production can be detrimentally affected by insufficient water and extreme temperatures, resulting in decreased rates of photosynthesis, canopy expansion, root growth and sucrose accumulation. These implications are already evident in many sugar beet crops now, with fields showing extremes of growth stages and crops struggling in places. This has not been helped by what the Met Office has described as the coldest start to April since 2013, with mean temperatures widely 2-4 oC below average, frequent overnight frosts and the month exceptionally dry – some places barely seeing a drop of rain.
Getting crops back on track with biostimulant Bridgeway (or Zonda) will ensure profitability remains viable for the rest of the season.
Bridgeway benefits
Stress-busting biostimulant Bridgeway is an indispensible weapon for sugar beet growers to beet stress and maximise profitable sugar beet production. Bridgeway treated plants may not always be looking too much different above ground, but its whats happening below that counts.
Containing crucial amino acids and signalling peptides (small chains of amino acids), Bridgeway (and Zonda) improve root and shoot growth, increase the rate of photosynthesis and help crops to overcome abiotic stress. Fast to act, applying Bridgeway/Zonda now will help crops to access much needed moisture and nutrients from depth, improve metabolic efficiency and also improve the tolerance of the crop to stress. The application of Bridgeway to stressed crops has always resulted in an improvement in crop health. Maintaining applications to help mitigate against crop stress will help to protect yield and build sugars as the season develops.
Improves establishment & growth
Stimulates root & shoot growth
Bridgeway contains crucial signalling amino acids and peptides which play a vital role in signalling healthy growth and development. Crops treated with Bridgeway have a more well developed root system which are therefore more efficient at extracting water and nutrients from depth. Bridgeway also contains 5% organic N which supports the crop’s high N demand early on.
Stress recovery & resilience
Bridgeway is highly effective at helping sugar beet to both recover from stress and build resilience to abiotic stresses. During drought stress proline and glycine help the crop to cope better with stress and help in cell turgor and osmotic balance protection.
Builds tolerance to stress
Higher photosynthetic efficiency & sugars
Increases the rate of photosynthesis
By increasing chlorophyll production Bridgeway helps sugar beet crops to harness light energy more efficiently. This is particularly important during periods of stress and can lead to increases in both yield and sugars.
Tried and tested
The benefits of Bridgeway have been well proven in sugar beet over the last 3 years, with increases in both yield and sugars in replicated field trials and on-farm.
Download our Bridgeway guide here to find out more or continue below.
Bridgeway increased canopy & tap root size
No above ground visible benefits but higher yields & margins
On-farm tramline trials conducted by Frontier Agronomist Max Howlett in 2019 showed Bridgeway increased yields of a commercial sugar beet crop by 23.4 t/ha and delivered a margin over input cost benefit of £418/ha.
Read Max’s case study here:
Significant yield & margin benefits in 2 years of field trials
In independent trials conducted by CMI Ltd in 2018 and 2019 (two very different years from a weather and stress point of view), Bridgeway increased sugar beet yields and margins and these increases were statistically significant in both years.
2019 results:
2018 results:
Conclusions from 2 years of trials
- 2018 & 2019 visual observations were no indicator of what was happening below ground
- Green scans nor dig weights of canopies showed significant difference
- 2018 & 2019 yield improvements surprising
- 2018 explained by hot, droughty conditions, but 2019?
- 2018 & 2019 showed the same trend in yield increases
- 3 applications of Bridgeway optimal
View the full report prepared by CMI Ltd below:
Beet stress this spring with Bridgeway
For more information on abiotic stress implications in sugar beet, how Bridgeway can help and how to use, download our Bridgeway guide here.