Beet color inheritance.

[farmermike]

Last year I began a beet landrace project. I started out with the "beet blend" from West Coast Seeds. This mix contained most of the common color variations, but no white beets. I grew out a patch of these seeds and didn't do any selection; I just let everything go to seed (maybe that was unwise). The problem was that the different phenotypes (varieties) didn't really want to flower at the same time. There was some overlap, but probably a lot of selfing too.

This spring, I grew out a little test patch of the saved seed. Most of the beets looked like the varieties I am familiar with, but some white ones showed up too. If any of these are crosses, they would be the F1 generation.

I don't really want too many white beets (although they tasted fine), but I do want to grow out some crosses and mix up the genetics a bit. I'm trying to figure out if the white phenotype serves as an indication that a cross actually occurred, as opposed to a self pollination within one variety. My (limited) understanding is that white is epistatic over red and yellow. So a cross between a red and yellow may produce some whites? Not sure what causes the striped "chioggia" phenotype.

Most of my ideas about beet color inheritance comes from billw's blog post about Ulluco color genetics and this paper from the 1930s.

So, does it make sense to let any of the white ones make seeds? Or should I assume that some of the colored beets are also crosses? I'm fine with some white beets showing up, but I ultimately don't want to select for it.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

No idea. Sorry I'm no help. I was under the impression beets could cross with turnips, but maybe that's not true.

I know Joseph had wanted to cross sugar beets with red Beets a long time ago, and that sounded awesome. I never heard if he gave up on that project or what. But i guess sugar beets are white.

bifurcatedcarrots.eu/2006/08/diversity-in-beets/

[philagardener]

White roots in table beets is a recessive trait ( link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s001220050044 - the full article is behind a paywall, but the abstract tells the story). Because you have red petioles on that plant, the genotype of that individual is likely R-yy.

Compare to www.rareseeds.com/albino-beet/ . When I grew that line a few years ago, it tasted earthy (not sweet) to me; I wasn't particularly partial to it so haven't grown it again in my clay soil.

West Coast Seeds lists your blend as OP www.westcoastseeds.com/shop/vegetable-seeds/beet-seeds/beet-blend/ , so it is likely that white rooted individuals were included in the original mix and all those alleles are segregating. The high frequency of selfing you described helped reveal this trait.

Great looking crop!

[Joseph Lofthouse]

The sugar beets I grew were male sterile, so didn't make seeds. That's what I get for sourcing seeds from eBay. They were probably also GMO. Something someone stole from the seed bin at work...

[billw]

Beets are diploid and can self-pollinate, so you would get 25% white beets from a selfing of a variety that is heterozygous for y. If you started with only true breeding heirlooms, you wouldn't see that result, but if hybrids were included in the mix, you might. Do you know which varieties were included in the beet blend?

[diane]

Jun 12, 2018 12:12:58 GMT -5 billw said:

Do you know which varieties were included in the beet blend?

The West Coast catalogue says the blend is "five colourful heirloom beet varieties" and shows a photo. My packet says it includes "striped Chioggia, round Detroit Supreme, leafy Early Wonder Tall Top, and cylindrical Rodina". I wonder what the fifth kind was. They do list a white OP one: Avalanche.