Yield and Quality of Tropical Sugarbeet as Influenced by Variety, Spacing and Fertilizer Application

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, during November 2015 to April 2016 to study the effect of variety, spacing of planting and rate of fertilizer application on the growth, yield and quality of tropical sugarbeet. The experiment was laid out in a factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiment consisted of three varieties, viz. Shubhra, Cauvery and PAC-60008, three spacings of planting, viz. 50 cm × 20 cm, 50 cm × 25 cm and 50 cm × 30 cm, and three levels of fertilizer, viz. 230-85-185-100-10-7, 260-105-225-100-10-7 and 290-125-265-100-10-7 kg ha−1, through urea-TSP-MoP-gypsum-ZnSO4-Boric acid, respectively. The highest soil plant analysis development (SPAD) value (97.7 at 80 DAS), beet length (30.4 cm), beet girth (36.7 cm) and individual beet weight (1.3 kg) were observed in PAC-60008 at the spacing of 50 cm × 30 cm when fertilized with urea 290, TSP 125, MoP 265, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10, boric acid 7 kg ha−1, and the lowest SPAD value (73.8 at 80 DAS), beet length (20.3 cm) and beet girth (27.3 cm) were found in Shubhra at the spacing of 50 cm × 20 cm with Urea 230, TSP 85, MoP 185, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10, boric acid 7 kg ha−1. The maximum beet weight (1.3 kg) was found in PAC-60008 at 50 cm × 30 cm spacing with urea 290, TSP 125, MoP 265, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10 and boric acid 7 kg ha−1 followed by (1.2 kg) PAC-60008 at 50 cm × 30 cm with urea 260, TSP 105, MoP 225, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10 and boric acid 7 kg ha−1, and the lowest one was found in Shubhra (0.6 kg) at 50 cm × 25 cm with urea 230, TSP 85, MoP 185, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10 and boric acid 7 kg ha−1. The highest beet yield (92.3 t ha−1) was recorded in the interaction among PAC-60008 at the spacing 50 × 20 cm when fertilized with urea 290, TSP 125, MoP 265, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10, boric acid 7 kg ha−1, whereas the lowest yield (46.2 t ha−1) was recorded in Shubhra at the spacing 50 cm × 30 cm with urea 230, TSP 85, MoP 185, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10, boric acid 7 kg ha−1. At 135 DAS, the highest brix (20.3%) was recorded in PAC-60008 at 50 cm × 20 cm with urea 290, TSP 125, MoP 265, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10 and boric acid 7 kg ha−1 that was statistically identical with (20.0%) Shubhra at 50 cm × 20 cm with urea 290, TSP 125, MoP 265, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10 and boric acid 7 kg ha−1 and the lowest (15.2%) was recorded in Cauvery at 50 cm × 30 cm with urea 230, TSP 85, MoP 185, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10 and boric acid 7 kg ha−1. Therefore, it may be concluded that PAC-60008 appears as the promising sugarbeet variety in terms of beet yield and quality cultivated at the spacing 50 cm × 20 cm fertilizing with urea 290, TSP 125, MoP 265, gypsum 100, ZnSO4 10 and boric acid 7 kg ha−1.