Dependence of table beet yield on different doses of compost in organic farming

Abstract

The paper presents the experimental study results on the effect of different doses of BIAGUM compost on the yield of Dvusemiannaya TSHA table beet variety. The compost was produced from fermented poultry manure. The table beet was grown on sod-podzolic soil on carbonate loam in the frame work of a six-field biology-based crop rotation. No protective agents were used. Mechanical and manual weed control was applied instead. The precursor on the experimental plots was potatoes fertilized with BIAGUM compost in an amount of 4 t∙ha–1 (N = 80 kg∙ha–1) in 2021. The average biological yield of table beet roots in 2022 in the control variant without compost (variant 1) was 24.94 t∙ha–1, in the variant with the compost application dose of 4 t∙ha–1 (N = 80 kg∙ha–1) (variant 2) – 29.40 t∙ha–1, in the variant with the compost application dose of 8 t∙ha–1 (N = 160 kg∙ha–1) (variant 3) – 31.28 t∙ha–1. The study revealed that the compost application (variants 2 and 3) increased the average yield by 17.88 and 25.41 % compared to variant 1, respectively. There were statistically significant differences between the variant 1 and variants 2 and 3: the LSD for the 5 % significance level was 2.42 t∙ha–1. The compost application in variants 2 and 3 increased the average mass of table beet roots by 30.7 and 33 %, respectively, against the variant 1 (control). The share of substandard roots in the total yield for these variants also increased. In all experiment variants, the nitrate content in the table beet roots did not exceed the allowable value of 1400 mg/kg. The experiment findings indicate a positive effect of BIAGUM compost application in the set doses on the table beet yield cultivated in organic farming.