ISSN 2360-7971
Abstract
Accepted 29th September
Five sugar beet cultivars; Brigitta, Laetitia, Esperenza, Henrike and Progress were grown with three adapted cultivars namely, Juvena, Mashad, and Valentina at the Sugarcane Research Centre, Guneid. The objectives of these trials were to study the effects of three sowing dates namely, Aug. 20, Sept. 20 and Oct. 29 and six harvesting age intervals of 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 months, respectively. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that, the first sowing date Aug. 20 prolonged vegetative growth, and maturity was attained at age of 6 months; the second Sept. 20 and third Oct. 20 sowing dates were best; and maximum sucrose content was attained at ages 4.5 and 5 months, respectively. Beet cultivars Valentina, Esperanza and Progress maintained reasonably high sucrose levels till age 5.5 (Mar. 30 harvests) as the adapted cultivar Juvena. Best harvesting date was early Feb. to early March. For all beet varieties tested there was a severe decline in sugar content at age older than 6 months.
Keywords: Sugar beet, Beta vulgaris, sowing dates, harvesting age.