Effects of Time and some methods of preparing sugar seedbed on fuel consumption, soil physical properties and crop yield

Different methods of cultivation are now being used for preparation of sugar beet seedbed in different regions of the country. Full or part of the primary and secondary tillage operations are conducted in the fall and spring or a combination of those, are common that executed, using different tillage implements. Tillage implements affects on crop yield, soil structure, fuel consumption (energy), and operation time. Therefore, we can increase the farmer's incomes by reducing the operation costs and time, if different tillage methods were used and found a way to maintain the crop yields at optimal. This experiment was conducted during three years, with five treatments (five tillage methods) and four replications in a randomized complete block design. Treatments were: one treatment, preparing seedbed in early fall, three treatments, preparing seedbed in both fall and spring and another treatment preparing seedbed in spring. The results showed that the lowest tractor fuel consumption due to the treatment of preparing seedbed in early fall was 70.21 L.ha-1, and the minimum operation time due to the treatment of preparing the seedbed in spring with the moldboard plow + disk and leveler was 8.18 hr.ha-1. Results also showed that the operation of preparing seedbed in the fall and spring had the greatest effects on improving the soil physical properties, however, none of the tillage methods had no significant advantages to the other methods to increase crop yield. Some of the tillage methods can be used in the cultivation of sugar beet due to lower time and fuel consumption.