The objective of this research was to study the seed stalk morphology, cluster yield and quality of 20 mono- and multigerm breeding lines as well as cultivars of red beet. The seed plants derived from the roots of the two sizes, during 2012 and 2013 in field conditions, were evaluated. Large stecklings formed plants with a higher number of shoots and lower percentage of the single seed stalks, and produced higher yields, and thousand-cluster weight compared to small stecklings. The monogerm genotypes developed higher plants with higher number of shoots and a lower number of a single seed stalks than the multigerm ones. The open-pollination and hybrid cultivars, as well as the cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) and their maintainer fertile lines, mostly presented comparable values of the studied traits. The cultivars yielded better and formed higher plants, and produced seeds with better quality than the CMS lines, which in turn formed more shoots and a higher number of bushes with the main stem plants compared to the cultivars. The characteristics of the generative plant development stage of different genotypes of red beet will be useful in breeding programs designed to create new, especially, monogerm hybrid cultivars. ...
The aim of this research was to study the effect of stecklings planting density on the seed stalk architecture, cluster yield and seed quality of 20 mono- and multigerm breeding lines and cultivars of red beet. The study included the new monogerm lines - AR79 A and AR79 B - breed in the Unit of Genetics Plant Breeding and Seed Science at the University of Agriculture in Kraków. The experiment was conducted in the years 2010 and 2011, in the open field conditions. Two planting densities of stecklings: 50 × 25 and 50 × 40 cm, were applied. Standard crop management practices, as recommended for red beet seed production under Polish conditions, were followed. The increase in plants interspacing from 50 × 25 to 50 × 40 cm led to the lower height, but twice higher number of shoots per plant, lower number of single, but higher number of bush and bush with main stem seed stalks, twice higher yield per plant as well higher thousand-seed weight and germination capacity. A large variation between genotypes in the features of seed-bearing plants, such as morphological structure, clusters yield and seed quality, were noted. Compared to other genotypes, the new monogerm breeding ...
