Nitrogen requirements of sugar beet in relation to harvesting date

Abstract

SummarySeven field experiments were made on the effect of two harvesting dates on the nitrogen requirements of sugar beet. All were on Rauceby series soils overlying oolitic limestone in Lincolnshire.Nitrogen fertilizer increased sugar yield in all experiments, and yield was considerably higher at the mid-December harvest than in early October. On average, the sugar-yield response to nitrogen was greater at the late harvest, and the requirement for nitrogen was about 45 kg/ha higher then than at the early harvest. Sugar content was depressed less at the late harvest than at the early by increasing nitrogen rate.These results suggest that farmers should apply more nitrogen to fields that they plan to harvest late than to early-harvested fields; they also have implications for the conduct and interpretation of nitrogen response experiments on sugar beet.