Origin of the ‘Weisse Schlesische Rübe’ (white Silesian beet) and resynthesis of sugar beet

SummarySugar beet-besides fodder beet, red beet, and chard-belongs to Beta vulgaris L. After it had been confirmed that the sugar of Beta beet is chemically identical with cane sugar, ACHARD started experiments on the production of sugar from fodder beet. He noticed that conical white beets seemed to have the highest sugar content. This first sugar beet, the ‘Weiße Schlesische Rübe’, is considered the ancestor of all sugar beets of today. It has been, and continues to be supposed that it had originated from crossings between typical fodder beet and chard. Hints in the literature about possibilities to resynthesize sugar beet by crossing fodder beet with chard were confirmed in the author's own trials; the F2 from the crossing fodder beet ‘Rote Walze’ x chard ‘Lukullus’ segregated forms and colour variants largely corresponding to sugar beet. Such new ‘sugar beets’ are not only important from a theoretical point of view; breeders are interested in new types, too. The synthesis of sugar beet is interpreted from a genetic point of view.