Effect of soil cultivation systems and the degree of saturation of crop rotations with sugar beet on the level of yield and quality of sugar beet roots

Abstract

The researchers conducted under the conditions of a long-term stationary experiment at the Poltava State Agricultural Research Station named after M. Vavylov were found that the saturation of crop rotations with sugar beet crops from 10 to 20 and 30 % did not significantly affected the yield of sugar beet roots. The differences in yield between the control (10 %) and the sugar beet’s percentage in the crop rotation of 20 % and 30 % were 0.2 and 1.7 t/ha or 0.5–4.0 % for moldboardless tillage, and 0.4 and 1.3 t/ha or 0.9–3.0 % for the combined method of basic tillage, respectively. It was found that the increase in the degree of saturation of crop rotations with sugar beet from 10 to 20 and 30 % is followed by an increase in the sugar content in the roots of the crop, respectively, by 0.8 and 1.1 % (absolute) or 4.6 and 6.3 % (relative) on the background of moldboardless tillage and by 0.7–0.8 % (absolute) or 4.5 and 4.0 % (relative). The highest level of sugar content of sugar beet roots, 18.6 %, was observed in field crop rotation, where the percentage of the crop in the structure of sown areas is 30 % under moldboardless tillage. It indicates that in the conditions of unstable moisture of the Left Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine on chernozem soils of the first ecological and technological group, in raw material areas of sugar factories, it is permissible to saturate crop rotations with sugar beet by 30%. Based on the results of the research, it was found that the implementation of moldboardless basic tillage in the crop rotation did not significantly reduce the yield of sugar beet roots compared to the combined method (plowing for sugar beet and corn and moldboardless multi-depth tillage for crops of continuous sowing method). At the same time, on average, the yield of root crops ranged from 40.5 to 41.6 t/ha. The highest sugar yield was obtained with the combined method of basic tillage in crop rotation, but this is only 0.17 t/ha or 2.2 % more compared to tillage with machines with moldboard-type working tools. Among the studied crop rotations, the maximum sugar yield of 7.85 t/ha was recorded when it was saturated with sugar beet crops by 20 %.