Yield of tropical sugarbeet as influenced by variety and rate of fertilizer application.

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, BangladeshAgricultural University, Mymensingh during the period of November 2012 to April 2013 to find out the effect of variety and fertilizer application on the yield of tropical sugar beet (Beta vulgaris). The experiment consisted of three varieties/lines viz. CS 0327, CS 0328, and HI 0473 and four levels of Urea, TSP and MoP fertilizer application viz. 230-80-185, 260-100-225, 290-120-265 and 320-140-305 kg ha-1 of Urea, TSP and MoP, respectively. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replication. The results showed that the varieties/lines had a significant effect on the plant characters and beet yield of tropical sugar beet. The highest plant height (61.73 cm), plant weight (82.02 t ha-1), leaf length (62.79 cm), leaf weight (26.47 t ha-2), beet length (19.28 cm) and beet girth (29.60 cm) were recorded from the line HI 0473 followed by the line CS 0328 while the lowest one was obtained from the line CS 0327. The highest beet yield (55.61 t ha-1) was obtained from the line HI 0473 which was as good as CS 0327 and the lowest beet yield (31.96 t ha-1) was recorded from the line CS 0328. The fertilizer application influenced significantly on the plant characters and yield of tropical sugar beet. The highest plant height (59.87 cm), plant weight (81.94 t ha-1), leaf length (61.56 cm), leaf weight (22.59 t ha-1), beet length (20.38 cm), beet girth (30.04 cm) beet yield (59.35 t ha-1) were recorded when the crop was fertilized with 290-120-265 kg ha-1 of Urea, TSP and MoP, respectively followed by fertilization with 230-80-185 and 320-140-305 kg ha-1 of Urea, TSP and MoP, respectively. The fertilizer application at the rate of 230-80-185 kg ha-1 of Urea, TSP and MoP, respectively produced the lowest beet yield (35.89 t ha-1). It can be concluded that the line HI 0473 appears as the promising one and it might be fertilized at the rate of 290 kg ha-1 Urea, 120 kg ha-1 TSP and 265 kg ha-1 MoP for better yield.