Malheur Experiment Station Information for Sustainable Agriculture

Sugar Beet Variety 2002 Testing Results

Clint Shock, Eric Eldredge, and Monty Saunders

Malheur Experiment Station

Oregon State University

Ontario, OR

Introduction

The sugar beet industry, in cooperation with the University of Idaho and Oregon State University, tests sugar beet varieties at three locations each year to identify varieties with high sugar yield and root quality. A seed advisory committee evaluates the combined data to choose the best varieties for contract sugar beet production. This report provides the agronomic practices, experimental procedures, and sugar beet yields and quality for the Malheur Experiment Station location of the 2002 trial.

Methods

Sugar beet varieties were entered by ACH Seeds, Betaseed, Hilleshog Mono Hy, Holly Hybrids-Spreckels, and Seedex in 2002. Twenty-seven varieties were tested in the Commercial Trial, and 28 varieties were tested (including the commercial check varieties) in the Experimental Trial. All seed for the Commercial Trial was organized by the University of Idaho, as was most of the seed for varieties in the Experimental Trial. Sugar beets were grown in an Owyhee silt loam field that had grown winter wheat the year before. The field was plowed and disked, then fertilizer consisting of 50 lb/acre N, 160 lb/acre P₂O₅, 178 lb/acre K₂O, 190 lb/acre S, 40 lb/acre SO₄, 10 lb/acre Zn, 4 lb/acre Mn, 2 lb/acre Cu, and 1 lb/acre B was applied according to fall soil sampling results. The field was then ripped, disked, groundhogged, fumigated with Telone C17, and fall bedded on 22-inch rows.

The results of a soil test taken on March 1, 2002, showed 8 ppm nitrate-N and 4 ppm ammonium-N in the first foot of soil; 8 ppm nitrate-N and 2 ppm ammonium-N in the second foot; 20 ppm extractable P, 408 ppm exchangeable K, 0.7 ppm Zn, pH 7.7, and 1.4 percent organic matter. On April 1 the beds were remade using a spike-tooth bed harrow and preplant herbicide Nortron at 6 pint/acre was applied and incorporated using the bed harrow.

Both the Experimental Trial and the Commercial Trial were planted on April 2. Seeds were planted with John Deere model 71 flexi-planter units with double-disc furrow openers and cone seeders fed from a spinner divider to uniformly distribute the seed. The seeding rate was 12 viable seeds/ft of row. Plots of each variety were four rows wide by 23 ft long, with 4-ft alleys separating plots at their ends. Each entry was replicated eight times in a randomized complete block design. On April 4 the field was corrugated and Counter 20CR was applied in a band over the row at 8.5 lb/acre.

The field was furrow irrigated with surge irrigation from a gated pipe. The first irrigation for uniform seedling emergence was applied on April 8 and 9. Seedlings were thinned by hand to one plant every 7 inches in the row on May 6 and 7. The trials were side dressed with 200 lb N/acre on May 8 and re-cultivated May 10 through 13. Progress was applied at 4 pint/acre on May 13. The second irrigation was on May 15. The field was sidedressed with Temik at 10 lb/acre on May 22 and 23 to control sugar beet root maggot, and re-corrugated.The field was irrigated on May 23 to move the insecticide with the wetting front into the sugar beet seedlings' root zone. The field was hand weeded and recorrugated in late May, mid-June, and early July.

Flowable Super-six was applied by aerial applicator on June 24 for control of powdery mildew. Laredo fungicide was applied by aerial applicator on July 16. On July 23 Sulfur dust was applied by aerial applicator. Flowable Super-six was applied by aerial applicator on August 23. Irrigations were scheduled with Watermark (Irrometer Co. Inc., Riverside, CA) soil moisture sensors to maintain the soil water potential wetter than -70 centibar at 8-inch depth in the beet row. The last irrigation was on September 19.

Sugar beets were harvested from the Commercial Trial on October 10 and 11, and from the Experimental Trial on October 11 and 12. The foliage was flailed and the crowns were removed with rotating knives. All beets in the center two rows of each plot were dug with a two-row wheel-lifter harvester and weighed, and two samples of sugar beets were taken from each plot. Samples were delivered each day to the Snake River Sugar plant tare lab in Nyssa for laboratory analysis of percent sucrose (Sug), pulp nitrate concentration, and conductivity (Cond). The root yield, sugar, nitrate, and conductivity data were examined and extreme outliers were deleted, and the data from the two samples from each plot were averaged for analysis. The percent extraction (Ext) was calculated using the formula:

Ext = 250 + [(1,255.2 * Cond) - (15,000 * Sug) - 6,185] / Sug * (98.66 - 7.845 * Cond)

The weight of sugar beets from each plot was tared 5 percent to calculate root yields, and sugar concentrations were "factored" by multiplying by 0.98 to account for the sugar that would have been lost to respiration if the beets had been stored in a pile. Variety differences in yield, sucrose content, conductivity, percent extraction, and estimated recoverable sugar were calculated using ANOVA. Sugar beet performance in both trials was compared to the check varieties ACH Seeds 'Mustang', Betaseed 'Beta 8757', and Hilleshog/Syngenta 'Owyhee' and 'PM21'.

Results

Stand establishment was good in the 2002 sugar beet variety trials at Malheur Experiment Station, despite cool, dry weather in April and May. Near record heat on July 11-13 stressed the beets. Prolonged hot, dry weather during the summer promoted powdery mildew infection on sugar beet foliage in these trials and in growers' fields in the vicinity.

Variety performance was grouped by seed company for the Commercial Trial (Table 1) and the Experimental Trial (Table 2). Within each seed company's varieties, the varieties are ranked in descending order of estimated recoverable sugar in pounds per acre. Root yield in the Commercial Trial averaged 50.67 tared ton/acre, average sugar content was 16.65 percent, and average estimated recoverable sugar was 13,970 lb/acre. The varieties yielding among the highest estimated recoverable sugar in the Commercial Trial were 'Beta 8220B' with 15,423 lb/acre, 'HH125' with 15,133 lb/acre, 'HM2980 Rz' with 14,903 lb/acre, and 'PM21' with 14,672 lb/acre.

Two entries were withdrawn from the Experimental Trial by the seed company due to lack of stand at other locations; data for the remaining 26 entries are reported in Table 2. Root yield in the Experimental Trial averaged 49.79 tared ton/acre, with average sugar content 16.41 percent, and average estimated recoverable sugar 13,401 lb/acre. The varieties yielding among the highest estimated recoverable sugar in the Experimental Trial were 'Beta 7CG6000' with 14,973 lb/acre, Crystal 'C217' with 14,450 lb/acre, and Crystal 'C0003' with 14,345 lb/acre.

Table 1. Commercial sugar beet variety root yield, sugar content, root quality, and recoverable sugar from varieties entered in the trial at Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2002.

Table 2. Experimental sugar beet variety root yield, sugar content, root quality, and recoverable sugar from varieties entered in the trial at Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2002.

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Last updated  Thursday July 10, 2003 .