The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Despite the existing several Sugar manufacturing companies in Sudan, there is an acute shortage in sugar supply, therefore the government imports Sugar to bridge the gap. One of the strategies to be followed is the introduction of Sugar beet (
Sugar beet is a biennial crop. Its roots have high reserves of sucrose, especially during the first growing season. Usually, the harvested roots are processed into sugar. It is preferable to have plant populations a round 30,000 -40,000 plants/acre, which produce very good yields of easily harvested of high quality Sugar beet (Cattanach,
Fertilization is considered as a limiting factor for Sugar beet production. Therefore, it is important to choose the optimum rate and times of application of macro and micro nutrients to attain the maximum yield and high quality of Sugar beet crop However, Nitrogen is the most important nutrient that to be considered when planning a fertilizer program for Sugar beet production. This is because Nitrogen status of the plant affects the early growth and the quality of the Sugar beet at harvest (Nemeat alla et. al.; 2008)
The main objective of this study was to assess the efficiency of Nitrogen fertilizer and plant spacing on sugar beet growth and yield at Alkodro area.
A field experiment was conducted during the winter season of 2016 - 2017 at the demonstration farm of College of Agriculture, University of Bahri, Khartoum State-Alkadaro (Latitude 150-440N; Longitude 320-350E, and altitudes 398m above the sea level). The soil of the study area is moderate to strong alkaline; with pH 7.5-8; and EC 1.1-8.3 dSm-1(Hatim
All the results of statistically analyzed data of this study were presented in the following 6 tables
The results
Times | 7 WAS | 10 WAS | 13 WAS | 16 WAS |
Treatments | ||||
Effect of plant spacing on leaf number | ||||
S1 | 11.582 B | 14.388 B | 24.416 A | 26.748 B |
S2 | 12.166 A | 16.083 A | 24.722 A | 29.139 A |
SE+ | 00.2283 | 00.8392 | 00.4335 | 01.2315 |
C.V. | 04.710 | 13.490 | 04.3200 | 10.8000 |
Effect of plant spacing on leaf area index (LAI) | ||||
S1 | 1.328 B | 02.106 B | 5.350 B | 7.280 B |
S2 | 1.669 A | 03.601 A | 6.005 A | 7.514 A |
SE+ | 0.041 | 00.058 | 0.335 | 0.193 |
C.V. | 6.610 | 15.43 | 9.69 | 8.12 |
WAS: Week after sowing, Means followed by the same latter(s) within a column are not significantly different at the 5% level according to (LSD).
The leaf area index was significantly increased with the increase of spacing between plants However, S2 treatment revealed the highest value of leaf area index (7.514) compared to S1 (7.280) 16 WAS. This result indicated that leaf area index increased due to the increase of spacing between the plants as well as the surface area. A similar trend was observed by (Varga, et. al., 2021)
The results in
Times | 7 WAS | 10 WAS | 13 WAS | 16 WAS |
Treatments | ||||
Effect of plant spacing on leaf dry weight (g) | ||||
S1 | 2.8567 B | 23.413 B | 47.275 B | 84.936 B |
S2 | 8.1792 A | 32.010 A | 57.244 A | 89.870 A |
SE+ | 0.809 | 3.262 | 0.626 | 3.117 |
C.V. | 38.58 | 13.20 | 5.64 | 3.65 |
Effect of plant spacing on root diameter (mm) | ||||
S1 | 16.453 B | 39.433 B | 77.544 B | 88.833 B |
S2 | 23.974 A | 50.441 A | 79.897 A | 94.992 A |
SE+ | 0.3379 | 0.7872 | 0.9031 | 1.4031 |
C.V. | 5.52 | 3.05 | 1.09 | 4.07 |
WAS: Week after sowing, Means followed by the same latter(s) within a column are not significantly different at the 5% level according to (LSD).
Times | 7 WAS | 10 WAS | 13 WAS | 16 WAS |
Treatments | ||||
S1 | 46.512 B | 121.98 B | 314.47 B | 613.87 B |
S2 | 72.792 A | 166.72 A | 510.81 A | 695.80 A |
SE+ | 1.534 | 5.7437 | 1.7535 | 15.972 |
C.V. | 6.36 | 8.54 | 6.87 | 4.56 |
WAS: Week after sowing, Means followed by the same latter(s) within a column are not significantly different at the 5% level according to (LSD).
Considering
Times | 7 WAS | 10 WAS | 13 WAS | 16 WAS |
Treatments | ||||
Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer on leaf number. | ||||
N1 | 09.790 B | 13.790 B | 24.000 B | 25.209 C |
N2 | 12.416 A | 14.418 B | 24.250 AB | 27.666 B |
N3 | 13.416 A | 17.500 A | 25.456 A | 30.956 A |
SE+ | 0.5474 | 0.5802 | 0.5684 | 0.7707 |
C.V. | 4.71 | 13.49 | 4.32 | 10.80 |
Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer on leaf area index | ||||
N1 | 0.991 C | 1.865 C | 4.590 B | 5.979 C |
N2 | 1.570 B | 2.795 B | 6.065 A | 7.731 B |
N3 | 1.935 A | 3.901 A | 6.378 A | 8.481 A |
SE+ | 0.050 | 0.220 | 0.275 | 0.301 |
C.V. | 6.61 | 15.43 | 9.69 | 8.12 |
WAS: Week after sowing, Means followed by the same latter(s) within a column are not significantly different at the 5% level according to (LSD).
However, significant differences were registered in leaf area index of Sugar beet due to the application of Nitrogen fertilizer 16 WAS
Times | 7 WAS | 10 WAS | 13 WAS | 16 WAS |
Treatments | ||||
Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer on leaves dry weight (g) | ||||
N1 | 5.1000 A | 20.741 C | 35.483 C | 72.24 C |
N2 | 4.8012 A | 25.296 B | 52.686 B | 87.50 B |
N3 | 6.6525 A | 37.096 A | 68.610 A | 102.47 A |
SE+ | 1.0643 | 1.830 | 1.474 | 1.594 |
C.V. | 38.58 | 13.20 | 5.64 | 3.65 |
Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer on root diameter (mm) | ||||
N1 | 17.203 C | 39.640 C | 72.926 C | 85.897 C |
N2 | 19.669 B | 44.820 B | 78.026 B | 91.886 B |
N3 | 23.769 A | 50.351 A | 85.209 A | 97.955 A |
SE+ | 0.5579 | 0.6863 | 0.4271 | 1.8719 |
C.V. | 5.52 | 3.05 | 1.09 | 4.07 |
WAS: Week after sowing, Means followed by the same latter(s) within a column are not significantly different at the 5% level according to (LSD).
The study reflected that the application of different levels of Nitrogen fertilizer had positive influential effect on Sugar beet growth and development. Where the application of N3 produced the highest root diameter (97.96 mm) 16 WAS compared to N2 (91.89 mm) and N1 (85.897 mm) treatments in
Results in
Times | 7 WAS | 10 WAS | 13 WAS | 16 WAS |
Treatments | ||||
N1 | 33.021 C | 100.64 C | 199.32 C | 398.23 C |
N2 | 61.870 B | 128.16 B | 443.11 B | 714.51 B |
N3 | 84.064 A | 204.26 A | 595.49 A | 851.77 A |
SE+ | 1.897 | 6.167 | 14.184 | 14.93 |
C.V. | 6.36 | 8.54 | 6.87 | 4.56 |
WAS: Week after sowing, Means followed by the same latter(s) within a column are not significantly different at the 5% level according to (LSD).
The application of (20cm) plant spacing between the sugar beet plants revealed significant effect on different parameters of sugar beet growth including leaves number, leaf area index, leaves dry weight (g), root diameter (mm) and root fresh weight (g). On the other hand application of Nitrogen fertilizer as urea (120kgN/ha) was significantly increased all Sugar beet growth parameters compared to other Nitrogen levels (80kgN/ha and 40kgN/ha).
It is recommended that this experiment to be replicated at Alkadaro and other locations in Sudan.