BC Seed Trials: Specialty Beet Variety Trial 2016 (Brief)

Introduction

The goal of the BC Seed Trials is to engage farmers in producing knowledge relevant to seed systems development in British Columbia. These variety trials aim to identify superior crop varieties for fresh market farming and seed production. 

Golden and Chioggia beets are prized for their unique appearance, giving them value as seed crops. Golden beets are known to have poor germination, an important production challenge.

Priority traits for this trial included:

• Good germination
• Smooth, uniform, and globe-shaped with few root hairs
• Attractive tops that are a good size for bunching
• Disease resistance

Research Process

We used a Mother-Baby trial design, which pairs larger, researcher-managed trials with a group of farmer-managed trials on participating farms. The UBC Farm and Wisbey Veggies in Abbotsford served as organic and conventional “mother” sites. The UBC Farm site used a randomized block trial design, planting each variety three times in different locations. Beet trials were planted at five on-farm sites, including two farms that were certified organic and three that were not. 

The variety trials described in this brief were conducted in 2016. These results represent only one year of data collection, and therefore should be seen as a snapshot of the varieties in that year, which might vary in other weather conditions.

Varieties Included in 2016 Beet Trials

 

Variety	Source	Type	Seed	OP	Variety Group
Golden	Full Circle Seeds	Golden	organic	OP	BC-grown
Chioggia	Sunshine Seeds	Chioggia	organic	OP	BC-grown
Chioggia	Eagleridge	Chioggia	organic	OP	BC-grown
Chioggia Guardsmark	Johnny's Selected Seeds	Chioggia	organic	OP	Chioggia Check
Yellow Sunrise	Osborne	Golden	untreated	OP	Commercial
Golden	Osborne	Golden	untreated	OP	Commercial
Boldor	Johnny's Selected Seeds	Golden	untreated	OP	Commercial
Touchstone Gold	Wild Garden Seeds	Golden	organic	OP	Farmer-selected/PNW
Golden Grex	Fedco	Golden	organic	OP	Farmer-selected/PNW
3-beet-grex	Planting Seeds Project	Golden	organic	OP	BC-grown
Chioggia	Uprising	Chioggia	organic	OP	Farmer-selected/PNW
Touchstone Gold	Johnny's Selected Seeds	Golden	organic	OP	Gold Check
Chioggia	West Coast Seeds	Chioggia	organic	OP	Heirloom
Red Ace	Johnny's Selected Seeds	Red	organic	F1	Overall Check

 

Results

Germination

Golden: These varieties had poorer germination, thinner and more upright tops, and rounder roots with rougher skin and more root hairs. The best performing Golden Beets were ‘Yellow Sunrise’ from Osborne Quality Seeds and ‘Touchstone Gold’ from Wild Garden Seeds. 

Chioggia: Chioggia beets had better germination, larger and floppier tops, and more squat or disk-shaped roots with smooth skin and fewer root hairs than golden varieties. The Chioggia varieties’ performance was very similar, with the exception of ‘Golden Grex’.

Beet Top Quality

Golden: ‘Yellow Sunrise’ from Osborne and ‘Golden’ from Full Circle seeds scored best for top stature for bunching. ‘Touchstone Gold’ also scored well. ‘Golden’ from Osborne and ‘Boldor’ tended to have thinner tops. ‘Golden Grex’ from Fedco had extremely tall tops. 

Chioggia: These varieties tended to have more delicate, tender, and floppy leaves which were easily damaged when bunching but had superior eating quality. 

Beet Root Quality 

Golden: At the UBC Farm, ‘Yellow Sunrise’ from Osborne and ‘Touchstone Gold’ from Wild Garden Seeds both performed well as the top golden beet types, while at the on-farm-sites ‘Yellow Sunrise’ did much more poorly. Both strains of ‘Golden’ had much rougher skin with discolouration and more root hairs. ‘Boldor’ displayed significant scarring, cracking, and internal rot in many locations. 

Chioggia: These varieties had smoother, more hairless roots overall, with less difference between the varieties. They varied in terms of internal appearance, with the Chioggia from Uprising Seeds showing the clearest concentric circle pattern when sliced.

Flavour

A public testing event was held on July 9, 2016 at the UBC Farm Farmers’ Market, where shoppers tasted varieties prepared raw and cooked, as well as a feature dish using beets. 

Golden: ‘Yellow Sunrise’ from Osborne and ‘Touchstone Gold’ from Wild Garden Seeds, and ‘Golden Grex’ from Fedco were judged to have the best flavour.

Chioggia: Chioggia from Sunshine Seeds and Chioggia Guardsmark were judged to have the best flavour.