The effect of planting scheme and fertilizer rates on the quality of sugar beet

Abstract

Sugar beet is a crop of huge national economic importance. The beetroot plant shows great sensitivity to the abiotic factors especially to fertility of the soil. The lack of nutrients in the soil where this plant is grown weakens its normal development and significantly reduces its yield. Therefore, the present research work was planned to assess the impact of planting schemes and mineral fertilizer norms on the quality production of sugar beet. Research works were carried out in 2021-2022 with Caucasian variety of sugar beet on irrigated gray-brown soils. The field experiments were laid out under different plnating schemes and fertilizer application rates. In case of 50x20 cm planting scheme without fertilizer (control); dry matter 21.4%, sugar 15.6%, protein 5.38%, fat 0.61%, cellulose 5.69%, ash 4, 46% and nitrate nitrogen 147.5 mg/kg in wet mass, respectively were recorded in background (P120K90) variant; 15.9%; 5.85%; 0.65%; 5.77%; 4.53% and 163.8 mg/kg.The quality indicators of sugar beet, as well as root and fruit crops, increased significantly compared to the control and background (P120K90) variants in the increased rates of nitrogen fertilizer along with the background. The highest quality indicators were observed in the background+N90 variant, respectively 24.9%; 17.9%; 6.21%; 0.76%; 6.05%; 4.71% and 183.0 mg/kg. In the 50x20 cm planting scheme, which has more food space, the quality indicators were higher in each of the studied options than in the 50x10 cm and 50x15 cm planting schemes, depending on the mineral fertilizer norms. 0.8-3.5% dry matter, 0.3-2.3% sugar, 0.47-0.83% protein, 0.04-0.15% fat, cellulose 0.08-0.36%, ash by 0.07-0.25% and nitrate nitrogen increased by 16.3-45.7 mg/kg in wet weight. The amount of nitrates in the root fruits of sugar beet was much less than the permissible limit (250 mg/kg in wet weight). It is concluded that the highest indicators were obtained in the background+N90 and 50x20 cm planting scheme