Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:04:23.411Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Results from experiments measuring the residues of nitrogen fertilizer given for sugar beet, and of ploughed-in sugar beet tops, on the yield of following barley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

F. V. Widdowson
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts

Summary

Five sugar beet experiments were made from 1964 to 1968 to measure yields of roots, of sugar and of tops from dressings of 0, 63, 126 or 188 kg N/ha. In 1964 and 1965 the sugar-beet tops were ploughed-in on all plots, but afterwards on only half of the total number of plots. Barley followed the sugar beet and was given 0, 41, 83 or 126 kg N/ha, in all combinations with the dressings of N to the sugar beet; grain was weighed and analysed for % N.

The maximum yield of sugar (8·24 t/ha) was with 126 kg N/ha. The yield of barley was increased greatly by giving it 83 kg N/ha, but not with more. When the barley was not given N, the residues of 126 kg N/ha for sugar beet increased grain yields by 0·17 t/ha, where the tops were carted away, and by 0·77 t/ha, where the tops were ploughed-in, but when the barley was given 83 kg N/ha, the residues increased yield negligibly (by 0·07 t/ha). Together the two sources of residue were equivalent to giving about 30 kg N/ha to the barley. Percentage N to the grain was consistently increased by both kinds of residue, but the grain never recovered more than 10 kg N/ha from them. So, sugar-beet tops had little residual value for barley, but offer a largely unused source of animal feed, rich in N.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crohain, A. & Rixhom, L. (1967). Practical fertilising value of sugar beet leaves and crowns. Bulletin des Recherches Agronomiques de Gembloux 2, 397428.Google Scholar
Draycott, A. P., Durrant, M. J., Hull, R.Webb, D. J. (1972). Yields of sugar beet and barley in contrasting crop rotations at Broom's Barn,1965–1970. Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1971, Part II, 149–54.Google Scholar
Draycott, A. P., Durrani, M. J. & Webb, D. J. (1972). Long-term Effects of Fertilisers at Broom's Barn, 1965–70. Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1971, Part II, 155–64.Google Scholar
Ministry Of Agriculture, Fisheries And Food (1973). Fertiliser Recommendations, Bulletin No. 209, p. 10. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V. & Penny, A. (1972). Results from the Woburn Reference Experiment, 1960–1969. Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1971, Part II, 6994.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V., Penny, A. & Williams, R. J. B. (1967). Experiments comparing the effects on yields of potatoes of three methods of applying three amounts of NPK fertiliser and the residual effects on following winter wheat. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 69, 247–53.Google Scholar