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.\ tJndian J. Plant Physiol. Vol. XXXII. No.~. pp.164-.168 (June. 1~89)
SHORT COMMUNICATION
EFFECT OF BORON FERTILIZATIQNON YIELD AND QUALITY
OF SUGARBEET (BET A VULGARIS L.)
D. NARAYAN!, A.S. CHANDELI AND G.R. SINGH"
Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technol?8Y, Pantnagar-263 .145 (U.P.)
Received on 10 March, 1989
Field experiments were conducted during rabi season (1978-79 and 1979-80) on silt
loam soil having pH 7.3 containing 0.42 ppm availablli:. boron, to study the effect. of rates and methods of boron application on yield and quality of sugarbeet. Boron application
through soil or foliage increased the yield of top and beet, sucrose per cent in ~eet juice,
total sugar yield and improved the quality ,of sugarbeet.
Deficiency of boron is one of the common miero-nutrient deficiencies affecting the yield and quality of sugarbeet (Viets and Robertson, 1972). Use of high purity macro-nutrient fertilizers in intensive culth·ation programmes may cause imbalance of boron and may also aggrevate the boron deficiency in sugarbeet crop. This may result in reduction of yield and quality of sugarbeet under soil conditions where available boron content is below the critical limit. Nainital 'Tarai' soils are reported to be deficient in avilable boron to plant'1 and severe yield reductions in maize and other crops have been reported (Mehra, 1979). The present investigation was aimed to find out the optimum rate and method of boron application for higher yield and quality of sugarbeet.
Field experiments were conducted during rabi season of 1978-79 and 1979·80 at Pantnagar. Treatments consisting of 6 boron applications and one control (no boron application) replicated 4 times, were laid out in R.B.D design. Out of 6 boron applications 3 were soil applications (viz. 10, 20 and 30 kg borax/ha or corresponding boron content 1.135,2.270 and 3.405 kg boron/ha) and remain
1. Scientist (Agronomy), Research Centre, Central Soil & Water Conservation Research &
Training Institute, Agra 282 004, 2. Associate Professor.
3. Associate Professor, Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology,
ing 3 were of foliar application (viz. 1,2 and 3 sprays of·0.2% borax solution at 60; 60 and 90; 60, 90 and 120 days ,of sowing, respectively). The soil was silt loam (39.4% sand, 34.6% silt and 26.0% clay), medium in organic carbon (0.94%), high in available P and K (24 kg P and 132 kg K/ha) and ,neutral in reaction (pH 7.3) with deficient in available B (0.42 PPIp). At harvest! yield of top and beet,
sucrose percent in beet juice (Carruthers and Oldfield, 196~) and gross sugar yield
(Ogden et aI., 1958) were recorded. Amino-N (Stout, 196}), Na and K (Jackson,
1958), impurity index (Ryser and Theurer, 1973) and .boI'oJ.1 concentration in tops
of sugarbeet (Jackson, 1958) were also determined during 1918-79. For convenience
results of 1978-79 are presented and discussed. :
.
Soil application of boron @ 10, 20 . and 30 kg borax!/ha as well as 2 foliar
sprays of boron significantly increased the beet yield (i978-79). The highest beet
yield (49.58 t/ha) was obtained with soil application of borqn @ 20 kg borax per ha
(Table I). Boron application through soil was 'more efficient than foliar in increas
l
ing the top and beet yield of sugarbeet. Since the availabl~ boron of·the experimen
tal soil was 0.42 ppm, which is considered lo be in' defi~ent range, the increase in
top and beet yield under such boron status can be expecttd with an application of
boron. Vlamis and Ulrich (1971), Gangwar and Gangwar (1917), Ksenz and
Rutskaya (1983) also reported positive response of sugarbeet to soil and foliar appli cation of boron. Besides, influencing the plant growth and beet yield, boron application either through soil or through foliage increas¢d the sucrose concentra tion in beet. Gauch and Dtlgger (1954) have drawn attention to the fact that the borate ion will form complex' readily w:ith'pOlyhydroxy 'oompounds such as sugar and transported across cell membrane, as a borate complex.' They also suggested that the borate ion might be associated with the Cell memblane; where it could form complex with a sugar· molecule and facilitate. its passage across the membrane. Application of boron appeared to result in rapid growth' of !sugarbeet leading to increase in the concentration of sucrose and beet yield an4 groSs sugar yieldJha (Table I).
The application of boron through soil Or \foliage increa~d the-boron concen
tration in top and improved the quality of sugarbeet by lowering the impurity index and decreasing the concentration of Na and'K in beet juice. The concentration of amino-N in beet juice increased, the magnitude of increase being more with foliar
spray than soil application of boron. The reverse was true ~or Na and K concentra
tions in beet juice. Decreasing effect of boron on Na and K concentration in beet juice
might be due to the fact that in boron deficiency the growth of sugarbeet remains
-
~ T,able I : Effe,:t .Qf boron (B) applifation (kS borax/ha) on yield and quality of sugarbeet and B concentration in sugarbeet top .at bar:vest (1978-79). S.No. Treatment Yield (t/ha) Quality parameter Jil oonce _______________ fooIo'-_ ntration Top Beet Gross sugar Sucrose Amino-N Sodium Potassium Impu-in top (%) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) ray (ppm) index 1. Control (0 kg B) 10.66 3S.34 4.64 13.54 117 348 1140 410 2.1!'"
2. Basal 10 kg B 14.07 46.19 6.45 14.04 128 321 '1029 354 34~,
3. Basal20kgB 18.66 49.58 7.35 14.92 146 304 962 331 46 . 0<. 4. Basal 30 kg B 16.49 44.25 6.13 13.79 170 283 936 345 71 ~...
S. B spray 60 DAS 11.92 38.63 5.60 14.67 141 325 1068 356 2Sfto
!L
concentration of boron increased in plant with increasing levels of boron application, the concentration of Na and K decreased simultaneouly due to increased growth. The effect was interpreted by Vlamis and Ulrich (1971) as dilution effect. They also found a similar relationship between boron concentration and K concentration in sugarbeet and noted that the amount of K was highest in most deficient plants and leveled off when boron rea(.hed an adequate level. Reda et al. (1980) also reported that the application of boron decreased the K content in sugarbeet roots.
Reichman et al. (1978) suggested that the impurity index should be below 400
to get recovery per cent of 94 and if the value exceeded 600, the recovery percentage decreased to 90 and below. Application of boron decreased the impurity index from a maximum (410 with no boron) to the minimum (331) with soil application of boron @ 20 kg borax/ha. Thus soil application of boron @ 20 kg borax/ha was superior to remaining boron treatments in increasing the recovery per cent and improving the quality of sugarbeet.
REFERENCES
Carruthers, A. and Oldfield, J.F.T. (1962). Methods for assessment of beet quality 1. Purity
determination using chrified extract from berL Int. Sugar J., 63 : 72-74.
Gangwar, M.S. and Gangwar, M.R. (1977). Effect of boron on yield and quality of sugarbeet. Sugarbeet Research at Pantnagar, pp 43-46.
Gauch, H. G. and Dugger, W.M. (1954). The physiological role of boron in higher plants: a
review and interpretation. Univ. Maryland Agr. Expt. Sta. Tech. Bull. A-SO.
Jackson, M.L. (1958) Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice-Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. pp. 372-375.
Ksenz, L.1. and Rutskaya, S.l. (1983). Foliar dressing of sugarbeet. Sakharnaya Sve/r,la, 6: 30 31.
Mehra B.S. (1979). Effect of carbonates and boron on boron availability to maize (Zea mays
L.) and its fixation in soil. M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis submitted to G.B.P.U.A and T., Pant
nagar (unpublished).
Ogdon, P.B., Finkner, R.F., Olson, R.F. and Hanzas, P.S. (1958). Effect of fertilizer treatment upon three different varieties in the Red Valley of Minnesota for 1. Stand, yield, sugar,
purity and non-sugars. J. Am. Soc. Sugarbeet Techno!., 10: 265-271.
Reda, K.A., Shalaby; A.A., Kishk, H.T. and Hegazi, A.M. (1980). Some effects of potassium on growth, yield and chemical composition of sugarbeet irrigated with saline water containing different levels of boron. Research Bulletin, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams Univ., No. 1237 pp 16.
Reichman, G.A., Doering E.J., Benj, L.C. and Fo!let, R.F. (1978). Effe;;t of water table depth
D. NAiAYAN et
al
Ryser, G.K. and Theurer, J.C. (1971). Impurity index selections on individual sugarbeets. J.
Am. Soc. Sugarbeet Technol., 16 : 399-407.
Stout, M. (1961). A new look at some nitrogen relationships effecting the quality of sugarbeet.
Proc. Am. Soc. Sugarbeet Technol., 11 : 388-398.
Vlamis, J. and Ulrich, A. (1971). Boron nutrition in the growth and sugar content of sugarbeet.
J. Am. Sugarbeet Technol., 16 : 428-439.
