Economical Sugar Beet Production: Biotechnological Advances to Improve Yield in Conditions of Abiotic and Biotic Stress

Abstract

Sugar beet—Beta vulgaris L. is the second largest sugar-producing crops, after sugarcane, accounting around 40% of total global sugar output in world. The largest areas are in Europe. It is grown for sugar and many different products. In recent times, more and more people are talking about the importance of sugar beet, as a fodder plant, but also as a plant for biofuel production. Sugar beet yield and quality are determined by genotype and environment. In this study, the state and analysis of the production of the sugar beet crop and influence of factors during the crop growth is studied. The main factor influencing the crop yield and bioethanol yield is the weather variability, then climate change. Irrigation in semi-arid countries, fertilizer and crop management have great importance on the yield. The objective of the current study was thus to analyze the components productivity of sugar beet, in the world and in Serbia, and to show the influence of meteorological conditions and of cultivation technology on the success of production. World sugar production in the 2021/2022 market year had a surplus of 10 million tons and was higher by 3%, due to increased production in India, the EU and Thailand. Higher consumption of this culture is expected in the coming period. Biggest drivers of this growth are India, China, the Philippines and the European Union. In Serbia, in 2022 sugar beet was sown on 39,411 ha. Compared to the ten-year average, this is 26% less. The average yield of sugar beet in the world for the five-year period amounted to 59,151 ha and varied from 60,766 ha, in 2022, to 57,104 ha, in 2018. In Serbia the average yield was 51,285 t/ha, and varied from 48,005 t/ha in 2022, to 54,193 t/ha in 2019. In Serbia, increasing of areas under sugar beet and increasing of yield is predicted. It can be concluded that sugar beet is a very important farming plant both in the world and in Serbia.