IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v14y2024i6p937-d1415299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimizing an Organic Method of Sugar Beet Cultivation and Yield Gap Decrease in Northern Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Józef Tyburski

    (Department of Agroecosystems and Horticulture, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland)

  • Mirosław Nowakowski

    (Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute-National Research Institute in Radzików, Bydgoszcz Division, Department of Root Crop Cultivation and Breeding Fundamentals, 85-090 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

  • Robert Nelke

    (Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute-National Research Institute in Radzików, Bydgoszcz Division, Department of Root Crop Cultivation and Breeding Fundamentals, 85-090 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

  • Marcin Żurek

    (Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute-National Research Institute in Radzików, Bydgoszcz Division, Department of Root Crop Cultivation and Breeding Fundamentals, 85-090 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

Abstract

In the period of 2016–2018, two series of field studies on organic sugar beet growing ( Beta vulgaris L.) were carried out in northern Poland on Luvisol loamy soil (medium–heavy) soil in Bałcyny and Płonne. The aim of this study was to decrease the yield gap between organic and conventional beets. Factors to increase the yield of organic beet were differentiated fertilization (cattle farmyard manure (FYM), compost, and Bioilsa) and choice of varieties (Eliska, Jampol, and Sobieski). The reference point was the conventional cultivation of the same sugar beet varieties, fertilized with manure and NPK mineral fertilizers, the prevailing standard of sugar beet cultivation in Poland. High sugar beet root yields exceeding the average yield in Poland by 25–30% were obtained in both studies, both in conventional and organic cultivation. Higher root and white sugar yields were obtained in the study conducted at Płonne (with similar soil conditions to those at Bałcyny), but they were characterized by higher temperatures during the growing season. The lowest root yields in both experiments were obtained by fertilizing the organic beet with compost (66.1 t per ha in Bałcyny and 78.13 t per ha in Płonne), which were 10.8% and 8.5% lower than the conventional crop, respectively. Higher root yields in organic cultivation were obtained by fertilizing the sugar beet with FYM, which reduced the differences from conventional beet to 7.7% in the study in Bałcyny and 2.1% in the study in Płonne. Thus, the results showed no need to convert cattle FYM to compost. The highest root yields in organic cultivation were obtained by fertilizing the sugar beet with Bioilsa N 12.5 supplemented with mineral fertilization of K, Mg, and S (Patentkali). This fertilization provided a yield of 78.1 t of roots per ha in Bałcyny, which is a reduction in the yield gap to 1.4%, a statistically insignificant value. Moreover, in the study at Płonne, organic sugar beet fertilized with Bioilsa and Patentkali yielded 86.7 t of roots per ha, compared to 85.6 t per ha of conventional beet, so a yield gap was not seen here. The choice of varieties was also of great importance for root and pure sugar yields in both farming systems. The lowest yields were obtained from the Eliska variety, and at Bałcyny, a change of beet cultivar to Jampol increased the organic root yield from 68.8 t per ha to 76.0 t per ha, while reducing the yield gap from 10.1% to 2.2%. At Płonne, replacing the Eliska variety with Jampol reduced the yield gap between organic and conventional roots from 6.6% to 0.3%.

Suggested Citation

  • Józef Tyburski & Mirosław Nowakowski & Robert Nelke & Marcin Żurek, 2024. "Optimizing an Organic Method of Sugar Beet Cultivation and Yield Gap Decrease in Northern Poland," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-16, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:6:p:937-:d:1415299
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/6/937/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/6/937/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muhammad Ijaz & Sami Ul-Allah & Abdul Sattar & Ahmad Sher & Ijaz Hussain & Ahmad Nawaz, 2023. "Evaluation of Various Organic Amendment Sources to Improve the Root Yield and Sugar Contents of Sugar Beet Genotypes ( Beta vulgaris L.) under Arid Environments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muhammad Ijaz & Sami Ul-Allah & Ahmad Sher & Abdul Sattar & Khalid Mahmood & Saud Alamri & Yasir Ali & Farhan Rafiq & Syed Muhammad Shaharyar & Bader Ijaz & Ijaz Hussain, 2023. "Boron Fertilization Alleviates the Adverse Effects of Late Sowing in Wheat under Different Tillage Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Matome J. Mokgolo & Jestinos Mzezewa & Mussie G. Zerizghy, 2024. "Investigating the Synergistic Effect of Tillage System and Manure Application Rates on Selected Properties of Two Soil Types in Limpopo Province, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-15, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:6:p:937-:d:1415299. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.