In regions of sugar beet cultivation, weed beet infestations are responsible for economic losses. Weed beet belongs to the same species as the cropped plant, thus rendering herbicide control impossible in conventional sugar beet where costly practicessuch as manual weeding of bolters must be carried out instead. Genetically-modified herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) sugar beet varieties might provide an alternative in fields heavily infested with weed beet. However, accidental bolting of GMHT plants would result in pollen-mediated transgene flow towards weed beets. The objective of the present paper was to use a spatio-temporal simulation model for comparing 3 production systems with different cultural practices to evaluate the risk of herbicide-tolerant weed beet populations in a small agricultural region where GMHT and conventional sugar beet coexist.
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