Effects of soil covers on air and soil temperature and on growth and yield of sugar-beets.

Abstract

From 1976 to 1979, sugarbeet cv. Monohil was grown in soil screened in various ways with transparent plastic sheet. Soil and air temp. were measured from sowing until some time after emergence. The temp. 7 cm deep in the rows was closely associated with the width of the strips covering the rows. Perforated plastic was less effective. Increasing soil temp. alone did not increase growth or yield of sugarbeet. When the higher soil temp. was combined with a higher ambient air temp. the development of the crop was advanced by 10-14 days. Improvement in the microclimate positively affected DM production during the growing period and final sugar yield. The higher final sugar yields were more often the result of the higher beet wt. than of a higher sugar content. No evidence was found of the effects of high temp. on leaf damage, the number of bolters or changes in DM distribution in any of the experiments. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)