Adenylate patterns of autumn-sown sugar beet differ from spring-sown sugar beet. Implications for root quality

Sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris L) is generally cultivated using two different planting and harvest patterns. In northern zones, spring sugar beet is sown in spring and harvested in autumn, whereas in subtropical latitudes, autumn sugar beet is sown in autumn and harvested in summer. The industrial quality of the root is frequently higher in spring-sown sugar beet crops. In order to explore physiological changes associated with this fact, this study has been focused on the seasonal changes of adenosine 5'-triphosphate and adenosine 5'-diphosphate levels in the storage roots of sugar beet plants, as an index of its metabolic status. The results obtained correspond to a different metabolic status of spring and autumn sugar beet at the moment of harvest. The adenylate patterns of autumn beets suggested a functional and active respiratory system. On the contrary, the patterns shown by spring beets corresponded to those we would expect to see in plants becoming dormant. The proline and glucose contents, which decrease the industrial quality of the root, and the respiratory rate measured in autumn-sown sugar beets, were nearly twice those of spring-sown sugar beets. The combination of an active respiratory system, which allows the carbohydrate catabolism and the synthesis of stress molecules, with the environmental factors at the time of the harvest, could be the underlying physiological mechanism causing some of the differences between spring- and autumn-sown sugar beet crops.