How to Manage Pests

UC Pest Management Guidelines

SYMPTOMS

Symptoms of these viruses are similar to those caused by aphid-transmitted Beet yellows virus. Early symptoms are a very mild mottle that later develop into interveinal yellowing or reddening. Affected plants are stunted. Vascular rings in roots are brown and mature taproots often appear to be pithy.

COMMENTS ON THE DISEASES

Lettuce infectious yellows used to be a problem on sugarbeets grown in the Imperial Valley. It was transmitted by the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, which has been displaced by the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii (aka B. tabaci, Biotype B– a nonvector of this virus). Currently, lettuce infectious yellows is not a major concern and has not been observed in the field since the early 1990s. Lettuce chlorosis virus is not uncommon in the Imperial Valley, but it has not been associated with yield loss in sugarbeet.

MANAGEMENT

Lettuce infectious yellows is no longer a field problem in sugarbeets, and controls are not deemed necessary for lettuce chlorosis.

PUBLICATION

UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Sugarbeet
UC ANR Publication 3469
Diseases
S. Kaffka, Agronomy and Range Science, UC Davis
C. A. Frate, UC Cooperative Extension, Tulare Co.
T. A. Turini, UC Cooperative Extension, Imperial Co.
W. M. Wintermantel, USDA-ARS, Salinas
Acknowledgement for contributions to Diseases:
R. T. Lewellen, USDA, Salinas

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