Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in 2006 to investigate the effects of deep rotary cultivation on sugar beet growth. The background to the experiment was a 2005 study showing potentially higher yield, higher cleanness and higher sugar con tent when primary tillage was carried out to 35 cm depth with a rotary cultivator. On four field sites in Skåne (L:a Isie, Ädelholm, Stävie and Vragerup), five different treatments were compared: mouldboard ploughing in the autumn to 20 cm; mouldboard ploughing in the autumn to 20 cm + rotary cultivation in the spring to 35 cm; rotary cultivation in the autumn to 35 cm; rotary cultivation in the spring to 35 cm; and mouldboard ploughing in the spring to 20 cm. The rotary cultivator used in the treatments is manufactured by a Dutch company, Imants. The implement cultivates the soil with spade tines fitted on arms that are mounted on a horizontal rotating PTO-driven axle. Beet plants were inspected and yield determined in the experiment, and three soil parameters were examined: penetration resistance, water infiltration and infiltration of blue dye. Root shape was also examined. The site at Stävie was not harvested due to poor beet establishment. At the other sites, the highest yield was found when the soil was rotary-cultivated in the autumn. Pooling of the results from the three harvested sites showed that the yield was significantly higher (+4%) and the sugar content was also significantly higher (+0.3 %) when the soil was rotary-cultivated in the autumn compared with conventional mouldboard ploughing in the autumn. The penetration resistance tended to be lower and the water infiltration rate higher when soil was rotary-cultivated in the autumn. The amount of blue colour covering the soil was also higher. The conclusion is that deep rotary cultivation has good biological potential. However this study was unable to determine the reasons behind this potential

Keywords

jordbearbetning; sockerbetor; icke-vändande bearbetning; roterande redskap; bearbetningssystem; avkastning; markfysikaliska undersökningar

Published in

Meddelanden från Jordbearbetningsavdelningen
2007, number: 55
Publisher: Institutionen för markvetenskap, Avdelningen för jordbearbetning

SLU Authors

• Yngwe, Johan

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/30982