The Impact of Urea Fertigation on Sugar Beet Performance

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to determine spatial and temporal variability in a sugar beet filed affected by
fertigation by sprinklers to develop a management strategy based on spatial and temporal variability of soil properties and
sugar beet performance. The Location of the s tudy area was in Isfahan Province, Iran. To d escribe the variability of soil
and plant status, response to N f ertilizer application by sprinklers was studied by analyzing 5 soil elements includ ing N,
K, CEC, EC and OM at two times (before and after fertigation) as well as 4 cr op properties in cluding tuber moisture
content, tuber w eight, number of tubers per square meter and tub er sugar content. Results were used to produce spatial
and temporal variability maps. Data analysis and m ap vis ualization indicate th at th e high er m oisture con tent causes
heavier tuber bu t the grid which has more numb er of tubers ha s the lighter tubers. On the other hand, more tubers with
lighter weight have higher sugar content. Matrix correlation of soil and plant properties shows a positive correlation of N
in the soil to tuber weight, and tuber moisture while it has a negative correlation to sugar content and number of tubers.
Higher sugar content of tubers was achieved co mpared to prev ious records of this field and the average of tuber sugar
content for the I sfahan province. Fertigation b y sprinkler irrigation is benef icial for th e high and uniform tuber sugar
content (as the economical elements in sugar beet production) of sugar beet in the irrigated area.