Effect of Zeolite, Potassium Fertilizer and Irrigation Interval on Yield and Quality of Sugar Beet in Sandy Soil

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Physiol. Chem. Res. Dept. Sugar Crops Res. Inst., ARC, Giza, Egypt

2 Technol. Res. Dept. Sugar Crops Res. Inst., ARC, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Two field experiments were carried out at Al-Hussein Agricultural Society Farm, Giza Governorate, Egypt, during 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 growing seasons to study the effect of three irrigation intervals [every 3 days (the conventional practice), 5 and 7 days], two levels of zeolite (zero and 500 kg/fed) and four levels of potassium fertilizer the first one in the form of potassium sulphate as a control [100% of the recommended K-dose], which was applied to the soil and three foliar doses of nano- potassium (500, 1000 and 1500 mg /l) on yield and quality of sugar beet grown under drip irrigation system in a sandy soil. The treatments were arranged in a complete block design in a split-split plot with three replications. Results revealed that increasing irrigation interval from 3 up to 7 days significantly reduced biochemical and physiological traits and root and sugar yields/fed. Soil application of zeolite achieved the highest values of all the parameters studied as compared to the untreated soil.  Spraying beets with 1500 mg /l of nano-K gave the same trend of the recommended K-dose.  Water use efficiency (WUE) for sugar yield increased with decreasing the amounts of applied irrigation water. Under conditions of the present work, adding 500 kg of zeolite/fed to the sandy soil, spraying beets with 1500 mg l-1 as nano-K fertilizer and irrigating the crop every 5 days using drip irrigation can be recommended to get the highest root and sugar yields as well as to save water and increasing water use efficiency.

Keywords

Journal of Plant Production
Volume 11, Issue 12
December 2020
Pages 1569-1579

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