Effects of some Seedbed Preparation Methods on the Soil Physical Properties and Sugar Beet Yield and Quality

To evaluate the effects of different seedbed preparation methods on soil physical properties and some morphological، qualitative and quantitative characteristics of sugar beet، an experiment was performed in Motahari Research Station of Sugar Beet Seed Institute in Karaj and Ekbatan Station of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center in Hamedan during two cropping seasons (2007-2009) using a randomized complete block design with four replications. The experiment consisted of seven different seedbed preparation methods operated in autumn or in spring. At harvest time، the number and weight of roots، length of crown، storage roots and roots on soil surface were measured. Quality characteristics such as percentage of sugar and inpurities of roots were determined in laboratory. The results showed that different treatments of seedbed preparation in terms of bulk density and soil hardiness did not have any significant difference. Soil bulk density values increased during the growth period and also with dept from 0 to 60 cm of soil. At different growth stages with soil depth increasing، hardiness with the different processes increased and values had faster trends in the mid-season than in early season. The highest white sugar yield was 10. 23 tha-1 in the treatment of autumn operation including deep ploughing، disk، leveler and cultivator tiller blade، and spring operation including disk and drive of seed rows with stacker. Thus، this treatment can be recommended as a suitable treatment.