Impact of Compost and Boron Fertilization on Yield and Quality of Sugar Beet Grown in a Sandy Soil

Abstract

Two field trials were conducted in a sandy soil at El-Nubaria district, El- Beheira Governorate, Egypt during 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 seasons to find out the influence the compost mature produced from recycling agricultural residues (0, 10, 20 and 30 m3 /fed.) added during seed bed preparation and four levels of boron (0, 100, 150 and 200 ppm/fed.) was sprayed twice at 6-8 and 10 leaf stages on growth, yield and quality of sugar beet crop (Beta vulgaris L.). A strip plots design in four replicates was used. The results revealed that fertilizing sugar beet with 30 m3/fed compost led to significant increments in growth traits and root, sucrose%, extractable sugar% as well as yields of top, root and sugar/fed, while sugar lost to molasses% decreased. Meantime, root sodium content was insignificantly affected by compost levels in both seasons. Increasing boron level up to 200 ppm attained significant increases in growth traits, sucrose, extractable sugar percentages, sugar yield/fed and quality index compared with the other levels of boron in both seasons. The interaction between treatment study led to significant effects on root diameter, root and top yields/fed. Regarding the correlation coefficient, it was found that root, top and sugar yields/fed were significantly and positively correlated with diameter, fresh weight of root and sucrose %. On the contrary, the three yields/fed were negatively correlated with quality index. Based upon the obtained results, fertilizing sugar beet with 30 m3 compost + 200 ppm boron/fed could be recommended for optimum root and sugar yield per unit area under the environmental conditions of these study.