Effect of different single herbicide doses on sugar beet yield, quality and associated weeds

Abstract

Abstract Background The objective of this work is to identify the most proper herbicidal treatment on sugar beet to compare different single weed control herbicide doses on sugar beet traits and associated weeds as well as yield and quality under sandy soil conditions. Therefore, two field experiments were conducted during the winter seasons of 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 at the Experimental Farm of the National Research Centre, El-Beheira Governorate. Tigro at 1.0 and 0.750 l fed−1, Betasana-Trio at 0.675 and at 0.9 l fed−1, Select Super at 0.5 and 0.375 l fed−1 and Betanal MaxxPro at 0.5 l fed−1 besides the unweeded and hand weeded twice were used. Results The results showed that the herbicides Betasana-Trio at 0.9 l fed−1, Tigro at 1.0 l fed−1 and Betasana-Trio at 0.675 l fed−1 when sprayed twice could effectively and/or completely eliminate the broadleaved weeds associated with sugar beet plants. Moreover, the results indicated and confirmed that Tigro and Betasana-Trio herbicides are effective in controlling broadleaved weeds. Similar tendency was recorded for the narrow-leaved weeds, where Select Super or Betanal MaxxPro at 0.5 l fed−1 as well as Select Super at 0.375 l fed−1 could completely eliminate or minimize the narrow-leaved weeds associated with sugar beet plants. The greatest significant root length, root diameters and root yield plant−1 were recorded when hand weeding twice followed by Betanal MaxxPro at 0.5 l fed−1 without significant differences. Gross sugar % ranged between 12.08 and 15 .7% and extractable sugar % ranged between 8.97 and 13.8% for Betasana-Trio at 0.09 l fed−1 and Betanal MaxxPro at 0.5 l fed−1. Conclusion Betanal MaxxPro gave the highest values of root and biological yield ton fed−1. Betanal MaxxPro followed by hand weeding treatment twice resulted in the greatest sugar yield fed−1. The highest sugar yield resulted from the herbicidal treatment with Betanal MaxxPro or Tigro at 1.0 l fed−1, which gave the greatest gross and extractable sugar yield fed−1 and exceeded the hand weeding treatment by 10.4 and 7.8%.