Processing quality of sugar beet, root and sugar yield in relation to cultivar, year and locality

Abstract

Production of sugar beet and granulated sugar in environmental conditions of the Province of Vojvodina is possible but to have a successful production optimal technology must be applied. Production of sugar beet and granulated sugar is virtually impossible without the use of modern cultivars with triple tolerance to the most important diseases: Cercospora beticola, rhizomania and Rhizoctonia solani. Field microtrials involving cultivars with various levels of tolerance towards the most important diseases of sugar beet were set in 2009, 2010 and 2011, in four replicates. The root yields were determined on the site whereas the chemical analyses were conducted in the laboratory of the Institute of Food Technology in Novi Sad. In 2009, sugar beet showed the best processing quality, followed by those harvested in 2011 and 2010. All seven indicators of processing features were best in sugar beet harvested in 2009. But, the mean root yield was the highest in 2011, reaching the value of 100.02 t/ha whereas it was the lowest in 2009, 88.77 t/ha. The yields of granulated sugar were significantly dependent on cultivar, year and locality. The highest yield of granulated sugar, averaged over cultivars and years, was obtained in 2011 (14.246 t/ha) with Prestige as the best performing cultivar. In contrast, the lowest granulated sugar yield was registered in 2010 with a mean value of 10.566 t/ha, averaged over cultivars and localities. The poorest performance regarding this parameter was shown by cultivar Kontrola I (9.539 t/ha).