Effect of soil compaction on some quantity and quality characters of sugar beet

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

1 Instructor of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Centre- Hamedan, Iran

2 Instructor of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Centre- Hamedan, Iran.

3 Instructor of Sugar Beet Research Department, Weat Azarbaijan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, AREEO, Urmia, Iran.

4 Instructor of Sugar Beet Seed Institute (SBSI) - Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran.

Abstract

Soil compaction reduces growth of secondary roots, soil aeration and water and mineral uptake by plant, and decreases chlorophyll content as well as root yield and sugar content. Hence, the effect of soil compaction on sugar beet yield and sugar content farms determined by penetrometer using 40 plots of 100 m2 in 40 sugar beet field of Hamedan, Asadabad, Malayer and Bahar at the depth of 0-80 cm. At harvest, some traits such as root yield (RY), sugar content (SC), white sugar content (WSC), sugar yield (SY) and white sugar yield (WSY) were determined in an area of 14.4 m2 per plot. Linear multiple regression of yield and sugar content as depended variable, with the compaction of soil at the depth of 0- 80 cm, as in depended variables, showed that soil compaction at the depth of 41-60 cm (4.2 MPa) reduced root yield, sugar yield and white sugar yield dramatically, but these traits were not affected by soil compaction at the depth of 21-40 cm and were even increased by soil compaction at the depth of 0-20 cm. Therefore, soil compaction more than four MPa at the depth of 0-60cm reduces sugar beet yield and quality.

Keywords