https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue Search results en Pest and plant assessments were performed on a total of five field experiments in 2024 (n=2) and 2025 (n=3) in Scania southernmost Sweden. Each experiment had five treatments: sugar beet intercropped with spring Barley, sugar beet intercropped with Persian clover, sugar beet intercropped with white mustard and two controls: sugar beet sole cropping with band spraying of herbicide and sugar beet sole cropping with broad spraying of herbicide. We focused on inspect pest assessments on leaves and stems. Pest assessments on leaves consisted of counting the number of beet leafminer eggs, aphids and leaf injuries by thrips, flea beetles, pygmy mangold beetles or vertebrates in four randomly selected groups of five plants in each plot. In 2024, surveys were conducted between the 8th and the 30th of May, at three-four day intervals, while in 2025 they were conducted between the 15th of April and the 15th of May, at five-nine day intervals. Pest assessments on stems consisted of counting the number of injuries per plant, in 10 randomly selected plants, twice between the 13th and the 24th of May in 2024. Whereas in 2025, these were evaluated as the proportion of the stem injured in each plant, in 15 randomly selected plants, once between the 23rd and 28th of April. All leaf and stem pest assessments were performed while the crop was between BBCH growth stages 9 and 16, because, with the exception of aphids, this period corresponds to when pests inflict the most economically important crop injury. Plant assessments were performed at crop stage BBCH 15-16 (based on the standardized BBCH scale for plant phenological development). We measured sugar beet plant density and the aboveground biomass of service crops, weeds and sugar beet (the latter was measured only in 2025). These assessments were done in four 1 by 1 m quadrats in each plot. In 2025 however, a proportion of the assessments of biomass of service crop and weeds were only done in 50% or 25% of the quadrat. All data were aggregated across samples (plants) and survey rounds for each site and treatment for analysis. For further information, see methods in the manuscript "Service crops for protection against multiple insect pests in sugar beet during crop establishment" by Neus Rodriguez-Gasol, Göran Bergkvist & Ola Lundin. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:17:00 GMT https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2026-194 https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2026-194 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Neus Rodriguez-Gasol Göran Bergkvist Ola Lundin