Sugar Beet Variety TRialS 2006

Eric P. Eldredge, Clinton C. Shock, and Lamont D. Saunders

Malheur Experiment Station

Oregon State University

Ontario, OR

Introduction

The sugar beet industry in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon, in cooperation with Oregon State University, tests commercial and experimental sugar beet varieties at multiple locations each year to identify varieties with high sugar yield and root quality. A seed advisory committee evaluates the data each year to select the best varieties for sugar production. This report provides the agronomic practices and results for the Malheur Experiment Station location of the 2006 trials.

Methods

Sugar beet varieties were entered by ACH Seeds, Betaseed, Hilleshog/Syngenta, Holly Hybrids, and Seedex in 2006. Twenty-seven varieties were tested in the Commercial Trial, and 32 varieties (including the four commercial check varieties) were tested in the Experimental Trial. Seed was organized by Amalgamated Sugar Company, Paul, Idaho.

The 2006 sugar beet trials were grown on Owyhee silt loam with winter wheat as the previous crop. A soil test taken on September 26, 2005, showed 39 lb available N/acre in the top 2 ft of soil. The top foot of soil had pH 7.6, 0.81 percent organic matter, 24 ppm P, 379 ppm K, 10 ppm SO₄, 480 ppm Mg, 128 ppm Na, 0.6 ppm Zn, 9 ppm Fe, 8 ppm Mn, 0.4 ppm Cu, and 0.4 ppm B. The grain stubble was chopped and the field was irrigated and disked, then 100 lb P₂O₅/acre, 100 lb S/acre, 13 lb Zn/acre, 2 lb Cu/acre, and 3 lb B/acre fertilizer were applied based on the soil sample analysis.

The field was deep ripped in the fall, plowed, groundhogged, and bedded on 22-inch rows with Telone C17^® at 15 gal/acre. On April 13, 2006, the tops were dragged off the beds with a bed harrow and on April 14, Nortron^® was applied at 6 pt/acre and incorporated using the bed harrow.

Both the Commercial Trial and the Experimental Trial were planted on April 18. Seed for the 32 varieties tested in the Commercial Trial, and 27 varieties (including the 4 commercial check varieties) tested in the Experimental Trial was organized by Amalgamated Sugar Company. Seeds were planted using John Deere model 71 flexi-planter units with double-disc furrow openers and cone seeders fed from a spinner divider that uniformly distributed the seed. Plots of each variety were 4 rows wide (22-inch row spacing) by 23 ft long, with a 4-ft alley separating each tier of plots. The seeding rate was 12 viable seed/ft of row. Each entry was replicated eight times in a randomized complete block design.

On April 21, Counter^® insecticide was applied in a band over the row at 7.4 lb/acre to protect the emerging seedlings. The first irrigation was applied on April 24 for 24 hours. The field was furrow irrigated with surge irrigation from gated pipe, using a Waterman LVC-5 surge valve (Waterman Ind. Inc., Exeter, CA). Soil moisture was monitored using Watermark soil moisture sensors Model 200SS (Irrometer Co. Inc., Riverside, CA) connected to an AM400 Hansen datalogger (M.K. Hansen Co., Wenatchee, WA) to maintain the soil water tension wetter than 50 centibar at 10-inch depth in the beet row.

Beets had emerged by May 4 and had four leaves by May 11. Alleys were hoed on May 15. On May 16 and 17, seedlings were thinned by hand to one plant per 7 inches, and the field was hand weeded during thinning. On May 22, urea was sidedressed to supply 180 lb N/acre.

The field was sidedressed with Temik 15G^® at 10 lb/acre on May 27 to control sugar beet root maggot, and recorrugated. The field was irrigated for 24 hours on May 30 to move the insecticide with the wetting front into the sugar beet seedlings' root zone, and irrigated again on June 7. The field was cultivated and recorrugated the final time on June 15. The field was hand weeded on June 12, July 5, July 26, and August 15.

Gem^® fungicide at 7 oz/acre plus Super-Six^® sulfur at 1 gal/acre were applied by aerial applicator on June 14 for control of powdery mildew. On July 1, Topsin-M^® at 20 oz/acre plus Dithane^® fungicide at 2 lb/acre were applied by aerial applicator. The first petiole test, taken on July 3, showed nitrate slightly high at 11,852 ppm, when the sufficiency level was 9,426 ppm; all of the other nutrients were sufficient. Sulfur at 6 lb/acre plus Headline^® at 12 oz/acre were sprayed by airplane on July 18 to control powdery mildew.

A second petiole test taken on July 17 showed nitrate slightly low at 7,154 ppm, when the sufficiency level was 8,334 ppm; sulphate was slightly deficient; magnesium was marginally sufficient; and all of the other nutrients were sufficient. Epsom salt was applied in irrigation on July 19 to supply 5.8 lb magnesium and 7.6 lb sulphate/acre. The third petiole test, taken on August 3, showed deficiency in zinc and phosphate, which was remedied on August 7 by an aerial application of 0.2 lb Z, 1.5 lb P₂O₅, and 6 lb S/acre. The fourth petiole test, taken on August 14, showed nitrate was deficient at 2,712 ppm when sufficiency was 6,150 ppm, and all of the other nutrients were sufficient.

Sugar beets were harvested on October 10 starting with the Commercial Trial and the Experimental Trial harvest was completed on October 11. The foliage was flailed and the crowns were removed with rotating knives. All sugar beets in the center two rows of each plot were dug with a two-row wheel-lifter harvester and weighed, and two eight-beet samples were taken from each plot. Samples were hauled each day to the Snake River Sugar factory for laboratory analysis of percent sucrose, nitrate concentration, and conductivity.

The root weight data were examined for outliers as is customary for calculations of sugar beet variety data in these trials. Observations more than two standard deviations from the mean for each variety were deleted. Sugar sample data were checked for errors in sugar percentages and conductivity. Any erroneous sample readings were deleted from the data set.

The weight of sugar beets from each plot was multiplied by 0.90 to estimate tare. Sugar concentrations were "factored" by multiplying measured sucrose by 0.98 to estimate the sugar that would have been lost to respiration if the beets had been stored in a pile. The data for each plot with two samples were averaged for analysis. The percent extraction was calculated using the formula:

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

where Ext is percent extraction, Cond is the electrical conductivity in mmho, and Sug is the sucrose concentration in percent.

Variety differences in yield, sucrose content, conductivity, percent extraction, and estimated recoverable sugar were calculated using least-squares means analysis. Sugar beet performance in both trials was compared to the check varieties ACH Seeds 'Crystal 217R', Betaseed 'Beta 4490R', Hilleshog/Syngenta 'HM 2992Rz', and Holly Hybrids 'Acclaim R'. Reports of previous years' Oregon State University variety trials are available online at www.cropinfo.net.

Results

Surge irrigation approximately once a week maintained the soil water tension wetter than 50 centibar through the growing season (Fig. 1).

Less curly top virus infection was seen in the beet trials this year than in recent years. Powdery mildew foliar symptoms were observed on the sugar beet foliage in these trials, and became more severe in September and early October.

Variety results were grouped by seed company for the Commercial Trial (Table 1) and the Experimental Trial (Table 2). The root weights were tared 10 percent, as explained above. The beets from the border rows in the trials, topped the same and dug with the same harvester, ranged from 1.7 to 2.7 percent tare, plus from 1 to 5 lb of dirt was commingled per ton of beets, so the actual yields were slightly higher than is reported here.

Root yield in the Commercial Trial averaged 48.1 tared ton/acre, with an average sugar content of 16.8 percent (Table 1). The varieties yielding among the highest root yield in the Commercial Trial were 'Beta 4023R' with 53.8 ton/acre, 'Beta 8600' with 53.6 ton/acre, Crystal '316R' with 53.2 ton/acre, and 'HH Meridian R' with 52.0 ton/acre.

Root yield in the Experimental Trial averaged 48.0 tared ton/acre with an average sugar content of 17.1 percent (Table 2). The varieties yielding among the highest root yield in the Experimental Trial were 'HH 06HX621 R' with 55.6 ton/acre, and 'HH Acclaim R' with 53.3 ton/acre.

Within each seed company's varieties, the varieties are ranked in descending order of estimated recoverable sugar in pounds per acre. A computer problem at the tare lab at Paul, Idaho resulted in 514 samples lost out of 944 taken. Too many plots were missing sugar data to perform a statistical analysis of the lab results. Lab and calculated data reported here are from two to eight replications of available data. Graphical comparisons of the data from the other locations of the Commercial (Fig. 2-5) and Experimental (Fig. 6-9) trials show that the partial data available from the Malheur location generally follow the same trends seen at the other locations.

Figure 1. Soil water tension during the 2005 growing season in the commercial sugar beet trial at Oregon State University, Malheur Experiment Station, Ontario, OR.

Table 1. Field performance of commercial sugar beet varieties in the Oregon State University Variety Trial at Malheur Experiment Station, Ontario, OR, 2006.

^ana = not available due to the loss of data at Paul, ID.

Table 2. Field performance of experimental sugar beet varieties in the Oregon State University Variety Trial at Malheur Experiment Station, Ontario, OR, 2006.

^ana = not available due to the loss of data at Paul, ID.

Figure 2. Commercial Trial root yield from sugar beets grown at four locations.

Figure 3. Commercial Trial sugar content from sugar beets grown at four locations.

Figure 4. Commercial Trial conductivity for sugar beets grown at four locations.

Figure 5. Commercial Trial estimated recoverable sugar from sugar beets grown at four locations.

Figure 6. Experimental Trial root yield from sugar beets grown at four locations.

Figure 7. Experimental Trial sugar content of sugar beets grown at four locations.

Figure 8. Experimental Trial conductivity of sugar beets grown at four locations.

Figure 9. Experimental Trial estimated recoverable sugar from sugar beets grown at four locations.

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Last updated  Sunday March 23, 2008 .