Effect of Zeolite, Potassium Fertilizer and Irrigation Interval on Yield and Quality of Sugar Beet in Sandy Soil

Abstract

Two field experiments were carried out at Al-Hussein Agricultural Society Farm, Giza Governorate, Egypt, during 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 growing seasons to study the effect of three irrigation intervals [every 3 days (the conventional practice), 5 and 7 days], two levels of zeolite (zero and 500 kg/fed) and four levels of potassium fertilizer the first one in the form of potassium sulphate as a control [100% of the recommended K-dose], which was applied to the soil and three foliar doses of nano- potassium (500, 1000 and 1500 mg /l) on yield and quality of sugar beet grown under drip irrigation system in a sandy soil. The treatments were arranged in a complete block design in a split-split plot with three replications. Results revealed that increasing irrigation interval from 3 up to 7 days significantly reduced biochemical and physiological traits and root and sugar yields/fed. Soil application of zeolite achieved the highest values of all the parameters studied as compared to the untreated soil. Spraying beets with 1500 mg /l of nano-K gave the same trend of the recommended K-dose. Water use efficiency (WUE) for sugar yield increased with decreasing the amounts of applied irrigation water. Under conditions of the present work, adding 500 kg of zeolite/fed to the sandy soil, spraying beets with 1500 mg l-1 as nano-K fertilizer and irrigating the crop every 5 days using drip irrigation can be recommended to get the highest root and sugar yields as well as to save water and increasing water use efficiency.