Nitrogen Fertilizer Effects on Uptake and Partitioning of Chloride in Sugarbeet Plants
1987
Moraghan, J. T.
Knowledge of factors affecting availability of soil Cl⁻ in cropping systems is needed. Sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.), a crop commonly treated with N fertilizer, can accumulate large quantities of Cl⁻. The influence of urea-N (0, 56, 112, 168, and 224 kg N ha⁻¹) on growth and Cl⁻ accumulation by tops and storage roots of sugarbeet was studied at five dryland sites in the Red River Valley. The soils at all sites were Calciaquolls and contained from 59 to 329 kg Cl⁻ ha⁻¹ and 50 to 100 kg NO⁻₃−N ha⁻¹ in the top 1.20 m. Nitrogen fertilizer significantly increased yield of tops at all sites, and yields of roots and recoverable sugar at three sites. There was no tendency for N fertilizer to suppress uptake of plant Cl⁻, even though petiole analysis suggested that much of the added N entered the plant in the NO⁻₃ form. The quantities of Cl⁻ present in tops plus storage roots at the final harvest ranged from 54 to 246 kg Cl⁻ ha⁻¹ for sugarbeet grown with 224 kg N ha⁻¹; the corresponding values for unfertilized sugarbeet were 35 to 167 kg Cl⁻ ha⁻¹. Most of this plant Cl⁻, 28 to 148 kg Cl⁻ ha⁻¹ and 46 to 226 kg Cl⁻ ha⁻¹ for the unfertilized and N-fertilized (224 kg N ha⁻¹) sugarbeet, respectively, was located in the tops, which are left in the fields. Consequently, a sugarbeet crop, especially when treated with N fertilizer, can result in considerable redistribution of Cl⁻ within soil profiles, and through this redistribution possibly affect the growth of subsequent crops.
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