An analysis of the agronomic, economic and environmental effects of applying N fertilizer to sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris)
- 1 September 1996
- journal article
- crops and-soils
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in The Journal of Agricultural Science
- Vol. 127 (4), 475-486
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021859600078709
Abstract
SUMMARY: The effects of different rates of N fertilizer (0–180 kg N/ha) were tested on the growth, yield and processing quality of sugarbeet in 34 field experiments in England between 1986 and 1988. The experiments were performed using soil types, locations and management systems that were representative of the commercial beet crop in the UK. The responses obtained showed that current recommendations for N fertilizer use are broadly correct, but large differences occurred on some soil types, in some years, between the recommended amounts and the experimentally determined optima for yield. The divergence was largest when organic manures had been applied in the autumn before the beet crop. Calculations using a simple nitrate-leaching model showed that much of the N in the manures was likely to be leached, the extent of leaching being much less if the manure application was delayed until spring. In these circumstances, spring measurement of inorganic mineral N in the soil could improve fertilizer recommendations. In situations where higher than optimum rates of fertilizer N were used, the extra N had little effect on yield. Increasing the rate from 0 to 180 kg N/ha increased the amount of nitrate left in the soil at harvest by only 8 kg N/ha. The amount of inorganic N released into the soil from crop residues at harvest increased by 50 kg N/ha with N application rate, and the fate of this N has not been established.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Five years of straw incorporation and its effect on growth, yield and nitrogen nutrition of sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris)The Journal of Agricultural Science, 1995
- Modelling the fate of nitrogen in crop and soil in the years following application of 15N-labelled fertilizer to winter wheatThe Journal of Agricultural Science, 1993
- NutritionPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1993
- Relating the nitrogen fertilizer needs of winter wheat crops to the soil's mineral nitrogen. Influence of the downward movement of nitrate during winter and springThe Journal of Agricultural Science, 1991
- Fertilizer nitrogen budgets of 15N-labelled sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris) tops and Na 15NO3 dressings split-applied to winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) in microplots on a loam soilPlant and Soil, 1990
- An analysis of leaf growth in sugar beet.Annals of Applied Biology, 1985
- An analysis of leaf growth in sugar beet.Annals of Applied Biology, 1985
- Nitrogen Utilization by Wheat from Residual Sugarbeet Fertilizer and Soil Incorporated Sugarbeet Tops1Agronomy Journal, 1984
- Timing and Rate of Fertilizer Nitrogen for Sugarbeets Related to Nitrogen Uptake and Pollution PotentialJournal of Environmental Quality, 1978
- The growth and development of the storage root of sugar beetAnnals of Applied Biology, 1973