BETTER POPULATIONS - BETTER SUGAR THROUGH TILLAGE

North Dakota State University - University of Minnesota
Fargo, North Dakota

Problems encountered in obtaining good field populations continue to be important to sugarbeet growers in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. Achieving both adequate and uniform plant populations are very essential in producing maximum yields of good quality sugar.

To improve sugarbeet stands, after assuring adequate soil nutrient levels, it is very important to conserve sufficient seed zone soil moisture for a more complete and uniform germination. It is also necessary to reduce the amount of soil crusting to increase percent emergence. And it is also very important to reduce the incidence of early season seedling damage and mortality from wind and wind erosion. Many acres of beets are reseeded annually due to one or more of the problems associated with getting good stands, or even more often, growers must be satisfied with less than desirable populations which often result in a substantial sugar loss.

Before planting-to-stand can become a practical or a recommended practice in the non-irrigated beet production areas of North Dakota and Minnesota methods will have to be employed that will remove some of the present day uncertainties associated with getting optimum harvest populations. Tillage or a combination of tillage and cultural practices could very well provide the sugarbeet grower with the necessary tool to combat some of these problems associated with getting good stands.

In the 1972 Sugarbeet Research and Extension Reports, Lloyd Staska reported on his work with a new seedbed preparation technique using a Woods Cultatiller 140 (6-row rototiller). In the spring of 1972, 12 rows were tilled in standing stubble and 12 rows were tilled in an adjoining summer fallow field with the herbicide treatment being incorporated in the same operation. Beets were planted directly in the 7-inch, tilled bands following the cultatiller operation. Due to a dry soil surface in the stubble and lack of precipitation following planting, a poor stand was achieved and consequently the stubble beets were abandoned. Germination was satisfactory in the summer fallow, weed control in the bands was adequate, and harvest yields were acceptable considering the late June 1 planting date.

In October of 1972 this work was continued on the Johanson farm east of Moorhead by tilling 1/2 mile, 6-row strips in standing stubble. Liquid fertilizer (28-0-0) and herbicides were applied and incorporated in the 7-inch bands simultaneously. Each treatment was applied to 6 rows and consisted of:

1. Fertilizer
2. Fertilizer plus Eptam (3#) Avadex (2#)
3. Fertilizer plus Eptam (2.5#)
4. Fertilizer plus Avadex (2#)
5. Check

Similarly on April 26, 1973, the cultatiller was used to till 6-row strips in the adjoining standing stubble with an incorporation of fertilizer and herbicide in 7-inch bands. The treatments consisted of:

1. Fertilizer
2. Fertilizer plus Eptam (2#) Avadex (1#)
3. Fertilizer plus Eptam (2.5#)
4. Check
5. Conventional tillage

The conventional tillage consisted of a disk and harrow operation on a strip of the stubble that had been fall-plowed. Recommended nitrogen and Eptam was applied to the conventionally tilled 6-row strip. Following the spring tillage operations, beets were planted in the fall-tilled and spring-tilled 7-inch bands and also in the conventionally tilled strip. The work did not include treatment replication.

Germination and growing season precipitation was satisfactory with large amounts of rain falling in September and October prior to harvest. The beets were thinned by labor and cultivated four times. Weed control was adequate in the 7-inch bands. Stand counts were taken in each strip and also in the growers adjoining field that had been planted on summer fallow. Four half-mile rows were harvested from each strip on October 24 using grower harvest equipment. Sub-samples of beets were taken for tare and sugar analyses from each strip as they entered the truck box. Tare and sugar determinations were made at the sugarbeet research facility located on the NDSU campus. Yields were obtained by weighing trucks on portable road scales before and offer harvesting each four rows.

The following summary statements based on measurements and observations can be made on the 1972 -1973 work.

1. The cultatiller-type method of seedbed preparation for sugarbeets in stubble shows promise as two important objectives are met.
   a. Standing stubble between the rows eliminated loss of seedlings due to wind and wind erosion.
   b. Stubble residue in the 7-inch tilled band reduced crusting.
2. Satisfactory populations of 81-82 beets per 100 feet of 22-inch row were obtained in both the fall and spring-tilled strips while the population was 97 beets per 100 feet of row in the conventionally tilled strip.
3. Optimum populations were not obtained in the tilled strips because of two reasons.
   a. A large infestation of weeds, particularly wild buckwheat, resulted in the loss of a number of beet plants during the hoeing operations.
   b. Frequent winter winds and lack of snow cover resulted in a seedbed with less than optimum seed zone soil moisture for good germination.
4. The following yield data represents an average of all treatments.

   	Populations (Plants/100')	Yield (T/A)	Sucrose (%)	Gross Sugar (lb/A)
   Fall-tilled strips	82	16.7	15.8	5290
   Spring-tilled strips	81	15.7	16.0	5010
   Conventional seedbed	97	15.5	16.0	4961

5. The above population and gross sugar data from the fall and spring tilled strips is comparable or slightly higher than similar data from the growers adjoining summer fallow field where plant populations ranged from 66 plants per 100 feet of row next to the trial to 80 plants per 100 feet of row in other parts of the field.
6. The higher population obtained on the conventionally prepared seedbed was due in part to the protection provided by an adjoining small grains crop to the west and good weed control.

1973 Sugarbeet Research and Extension Reports. Volume 4, page 79 - 81.

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