Pests

Beet leaf miner: Pegomyia hyocyami

The maggots feed in the epidermal layers of the leaf by making serpentine mines with silvery appearance. The affected leaves turn pale yellow, get distorted and crumpled; and gradually dry and die away.

Control: Destroy fallen leaves and other plant debris after harvest.

Web worms: Hymenia sp. or Loxostege sp.

Green caterpillars web up the leaves and live inside the knotted mass. Flowering and pod formation is adversely affected.

Control: Removal and destruction of webbed bunches of leaves help to check further spread of the disease. 

Semilooper: Plusia spp.

The caterpillars voraciously feed on the foliage causing severe damage.

Control: Hand picking the larvae and spraying the crop with carbaryl (0.1%) controls the pest.

Diseases

Leaf spot: Cercospora beticola

Circular spots appear on the leaf surface, which later dry up giving a shot-hole appearance to the leaves. In case of severe infection, leaves dry and drop prematurely, exposing crown.

Control: Removal and destruction of affected plants, crop rotation and spraying copper oxychloride (0.3 %) control the disease effectively.

Downy mildew: Perenospora schachtti

White powdery growth appears on the lower leaf surface. The affected leaf dries and shrivels quickly and infected flower shoots become stunted and distorted.

Control: Phytosanitary measures, crop rotation and use of resistant cultivars are recommended. Seed treatment with thiram (2.5-3 g/kg of seed) and spraying dithane Z-78 (0.3 %) is also effective.

Mosaic

The infected leaves show conspicuous mottling with chlorotic, zonate ring spots on the surface, and the plants remain stunted. Aphids spread the disease.

Control: Destruction of infected plants and controlling the aphid population by spraying malathion (2ml/litre) prevents the spread of the disease.

Curly top: Curly top virus

The infected plant parts become thickened, leathery and distorted. Infection impairs both yield and quality of the root. This disease is transmitted by beet leafhoppers.

Control: Use of resistant varieties; eradication of susceptible weeds and volunteer crop plants; regulating the time of planting; use of trap crops, and malathion spray @ 2ml/litre to control leafhoppers population are recommended.

Beet yellows

Infected leaves become chlorotic, thickened, leathery and brittle. The foliage becomes abnormally red or yellow and often dies. This disease is transmitted mainly through aphids.

Control: Remove infected plants and weeds from the field. Controlling aphid population reduce disease incidence.

Purple leaf of beetroot: Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV).

Plants become stunted and leaves show a tendency to stand erect and come closer. Leaves of infected plants show an unusual intense purple colouration.

Control: Removal and destruction of virus-infected plants and weed hosts helps in minimizing disease.