Sugar beet storage - an overview of Dutch research

Research on sugar beet storage has been carried out on a laboratory scale as well as on a farm scale. Beet quality was analysed before and after storage, including additional parameters. Laboratory experiments, calculating sugar losses from measured carbon dioxide production, showed the effect of both storage temperature and beet injuries. Increasing the storage temperature from 11 to 17 degrees C increased sugar losses by approx. 50%. Intensive cleaning by harvesters also affected the storability of the beet. Intensive cleaning of beet compared to less aggressive cleaning with the same harvester increased sugar losses by approx. 30%. Large beet showed slightly lower storage losses when compared to smaller beet. Defoliation and topping also had some effect on the storability too. Beet store better when there are no petioles left on the beet, this can be achieved by using a good defoliation system or sufficient topping. In practice the effect of covering strategies (incidental coverage at low temperatures and permanent covering with special sheets) on sugar losses were investigated using the "paired net" method. Similar storage losses were found with different covering strategies. All experiments showed a decrease of internal beet quality after storage. However, under good storage conditions the reduction in beet quality was limited. Sugar losses may be kept to approx. 150g/1000kg beet/day, with some increase in reducing sugars. Sugar content after storage was higher using polypropylene fleece (TopTex) coverings compared to occasionally covering the clamp during frost, this was due to drying of the beet. However, with TopTex additional covering is required during low temperatures, because it gives insufficient frost protection during windy conditions.