S. Yazdani; R. Rahimi
Abstract
Sugar beet as an industrial crop plays a main role in satisfying domestic demand of sugar. Study on the production efficiency of sugar beet is important because this is a factor that influences production without additional cost. In this study, Data Envelopment Analysis approach (DEA), was implemented ...
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Sugar beet as an industrial crop plays a main role in satisfying domestic demand of sugar. Study on the production efficiency of sugar beet is important because this is a factor that influences production without additional cost. In this study, Data Envelopment Analysis approach (DEA), was implemented to calculate technical, administrative and scale efficiency of sugar beet production. Also optimum level of inputs was determined. Data was collected from 60 questionnaires filled by sugar beet producers in 2009-2010. Results indicated that average of technical, administrative and scale efficiency is equal to 89.6%, 70.5% and 79%, respectively. Also, fertilizer, labor and seed were used more than optimum level whereas herbicide and water were implemented less than optimum level.
S. Rezvani; A. Noruzi; K. Azari; A. M. Jafari
Abstract
Estimation of optimum fertilizer rates is needed because of growing economic and environmental concerns. Optimum fertilizer rates can be determined by fitting statistical models to yield data collected from N fertilizer experiments. The main goal of this research was to compare and evaluate quadratic, ...
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Estimation of optimum fertilizer rates is needed because of growing economic and environmental concerns. Optimum fertilizer rates can be determined by fitting statistical models to yield data collected from N fertilizer experiments. The main goal of this research was to compare and evaluate quadratic, square root, Mitscherlich, rectangular hyperbola, linear plus plateau and quadratic plus plateau models for describing the response of sugar beet to N fertilizer. Data used were obtained from a furrow irrigation system experiment with five N fertilizer rates: zero (control), 60, 120, 180, and 240 N kgha-1 with three replications in Ekbatan Research Station, Hamedan, Iran, during 2003 and 2004. Economic optimum N fertilizer rates were obtained based on fertilizer and sugar beet price during 2003 and 2004. Economic, optimum N fertilizer rates varied depending on the fertilizer to crop price ratio and models used. Results of this research showed the quadratic model described the yield responses and economic, optimum N fertilizer rate in sugar beet cultivation better than the other models. Economic, optimum N fertilizer rates due to this model were 235.8 and 248.9 kgha-1 in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Economic optimum N fertilizer rates based on N fertilizer subsidy and non-subsidy prices were 234.7 and 225.1 kgha-1 for 2003 model, and 247.9 and 240.8 kgha-1 for 2004 model, respectively.
S.S. Hemayati; M.H. Shirzadi; M. Aghaeezadeh; D. Taleghani; M.A. Javaheri; A. Aliasghari
Abstract
As water is the most restrictive factor in national agricultural production, it is necessary to take decreased water consumption and increased water us efficiency in crop production into consideration. Nowadays, spring sugar beet production areas are concentrated in the region with water limitation and ...
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As water is the most restrictive factor in national agricultural production, it is necessary to take decreased water consumption and increased water us efficiency in crop production into consideration. Nowadays, spring sugar beet production areas are concentrated in the region with water limitation and hence, the increase in spring production area contradicts the principle of water and soil conservation. Using new regions for autumn sugar beet sowing allows the increase in warm and semi-warm beet production areas. To develop sugar beet production in Province of Kerman and to find new climates, the study was conducted in Jiroft area in strip split split plots based on Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications during 2007-2008. Three sowing dates (September 6, October 7 and November 6), five cultivars (Rasoul, Monatuna, 9597, SBSI002 and SBSI003) and three harvesting dates (April 4, May 5 and June 5) were evaluated. Results showed significant effects of sowing and harvesting dates on white sugar yield. The effects of sowing date variations were greater than those of harvesting date so that growth period shortened by two months (due to delayed sowing date) decreased white sugar yield by 72.5% whereas and growth period prolonged by the same amount (due to delayed harvesting date) increased the white sugar yield by 55.1%. The highest white sugar yield (13.71 ton.ha-1) was obtained by early sowing (September 6) of SBSI002 and harvesting in May 5(with 240 days growth period). Considering favorable agro-climatic conditions in Jiroft region belonging to warm zone of Province of Kerman, it seems that the region has the potential for fall cultivation of sugar beet.
R. Roham; N. Akbari; M. Abdollahian noghabi; H. R. Eisvand; M. Yaghubi
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted to study the spatial relationships between weed seed bank and population and their distribution models in sugar beet crop (Beta vulgaris) in 2009 at Motahari Agricultural Research Station of Karaj. Sampling from seed bank before sugar beet drilling and weed population ...
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A field experiment was conducted to study the spatial relationships between weed seed bank and population and their distribution models in sugar beet crop (Beta vulgaris) in 2009 at Motahari Agricultural Research Station of Karaj. Sampling from seed bank before sugar beet drilling and weed population in three stages during the growing season were done using square (50*50 cm) and rectangle (25*100 cm) frameworks. Seed and plant frequency of each weed species were recorded in the both frameworks. Geostatistics technique was used to investigate the local structure of the weeds and dynamic of the spots. Amaranth, lambsquarter and narrow-leaf weeds were the prevalent weed species in the field. Semi-variogram analysis showed a range of influence from 0.24 to 141.9 m depending on weed species and sampling stage. The highest range of influence belonged to amaranth, especially in the second stage of seedling sampling. Lambsquarter had a lowest range of influence between all weeds. The highest nugget effect (1.671 and 1.308) was observed for amaranth (at second sampling from seedlings) and narrow leaf-weeds (at the first sampling from seedlings), respectively. This led to weak local correlation for amaranth and narrow-leaf weeds. Strong local correlation was recorded for seed and seedling of lambsquarter at all sampling stages. Spot distribution of weeds was confirmed by local distribution maps. Spots structure changed during the growing season. Results suggested that weed local distribution could improve management decisions and comprehension of dynamic of weeds populations.
B. Babaei; M. Abdollahian-Noghabi; H. Noshad; S. Vahedi
Abstract
Cellulose is a raw material which is extensively used in the manufacture of paints, papers, textiles, agricultural products and cosmetics. The waste of sugar beet pulp after titration is a source of cellulose. The current study was carried out to study the possibility of cellulose production from sugar ...
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Cellulose is a raw material which is extensively used in the manufacture of paints, papers, textiles, agricultural products and cosmetics. The waste of sugar beet pulp after titration is a source of cellulose. The current study was carried out to study the possibility of cellulose production from sugar beet pulp waste at titration stage as a 3×3×2 factorial study on the basis of a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. So, firstly the waste of titrated sugar beet pulp was collected, washed, dried and ground. Then, the ground sample was hydrolyzed by hydrochloride acid 0.6 N at 45°C for 48 hours and was mixed with water at 70°C for one hour in order to isolate dissolved pectin and pectic compounds. Then, the remaining waste was washed, dried and treated with soda solution with the ratio of 1 g waste:100 ml soda solution at three levels with the concentrations of 2.5, 5 and 7.5% (w/v) at three lengths of soda impact including 8, 10 and 12 hours and two levels of temperature of soda impact including 24 and 45°C in order to isolate the basic medium-dissolved polysaccharides from cellulose. The measured traits included relative purity, viscosity and cellulose molecular mass. Results showed that the effect of soda concentration and stirring length as well as their interaction was significant on relative purity at 5% probability level. In addition, it was revealed that out of the studied treatments, the cellulose extracted through treating with 5% soda stirred for 12 hours at 45°C had significantly higher quality given that it enjoyed 95.2% relative purity, 15.9 mPa.s-1 viscosity and 255000 kg.mol-1 molecular mass which were significantly higher than those of other treatments. Therefore, this method allows extracting cellulose with 95.2% relative purity from sugar beet waste.