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How to Manage Pests
UC Pest Management Guidelines
Sugarbeet
Curly Top
Pathogen: Beet
curly top virus (BCTV)
(Reviewed 11/05,
updated 1/10)
In this Guideline:
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Leaves are dwarfed,
crinkled, and rolled upward and inward.
Veins on the lower side of infected leaves are irregularly swollen with bumps.
If large roots are cut crosswise, dark
rings of vascular tissue can be
seen. Young roots of infected plants are dwarfed, and rootlets tend to become
twisted and distorted and are often killed. Death of rootlets is followed by
production of new rootlets, leading to a "hairy root" symptom that
can resemble symptoms of the unrelated disease, rhizomania.
Beet curly top virus is
vectored by the beet
leafhopper, Circulifer tenellus, which has an extensive host range, a high
reproductive capacity, and can migrate long distances from its breeding grounds
in the coastal foothills and desert areas to cultivated areas. The leafhopper
overwinters on a wide range of annual and perennial weeds and readily acquires
the virus when it feeds on infected plants (for more information, see BEET
LEAFHOPPER). Once acquired, the vector can usually transmit the virus for the
rest of its life. In spring, beet leafhopper migrates to agricultural lands
when the overwintering host plants dry out. Severity of curly top disease in
sugarbeet depends on climatic factors that influence the prevalence of weed
hosts of the virus and the reproductive capacity and migration of the
leafhopper vector. Beet curly top virus
also can cause significant losses in tomatoes, beans, peppers, and occasionally
cucurbits.
Curly top is not generally a problem in the Imperial Valley. In
other areas, grow resistant varieties in virus-prone areas, especially along
the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. In addition, control overwintered
weeds and other plants that serve as hosts for the leafhopper vector and/or the
virus.
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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