sharif, a new bolting tolerant sugar beet variety suitable for autumn sowing

low water consumption in autumn sugar beet sowing is an important strategy for sugar beet production, especially in arid regions like iran. for the development of a new monogerm triploid hybrid called sharif which is bolting tolerant and suitable for autumn sowing in khuzestan province, a breeding program was started in 1994 and continued for16 years. this program had two stages; the first stage began in 1996 and ended up in 2005 and the second stage period was from 2006 to 2011. a recurrent half-sib family selection in tetraploid population was used for pollinator development and genetic-cytoplasmic male sterile lines were used for single cross production. based on cross pollination results, the single cross (419*474) and pollinator hm5514 were selected as maternal and paternal parents, respectively and a new triploid hybrid called sharif was developed. the new hybrid was evaluated for bolting tolerance and qualitative and quantitative traits in in autumn sugar beet sowing areas, especially dezful, during 2006-08. results of the trials in dezful showed that the average sugar content, root yield, and white sugar yield of the new hybrid was 17.33%, 74.50 and 11.55 t/ha, respectively with an average bolting of 3.09%. compared with the control variety rasoul, the new variety had 5, 2.8 and 8.5% higher root yield, sugar content and sugar yield, respectively and 65% reduction in bolting. this variety is recommended for autumn planting in khuzestan, kerman, and similar regions.