Evaluation of N-fertiliser recommendations for sugar beets based on the N-index expert system
2001
Ver Elst, P. | Coppens, G. | Vanongeval, L. | Geypens, M. (Soil Service of Belgium, Heverlee (Belgium))
This poster describes the study carried out to evaluate the N-fertiliser recommendations based on N-INDEX in relation to production, quality and financial profit of the sugar beet crop in practice. To obtain as much information as possible from practice, a questionnaire was set up, which was sent to the participating sugar beet growers. Questions were asked about soil structure, fertilisation, diseases, variety, growth. At the end of the growing season, yield and quality parameters of the participating sugar parcels were obtained from the sugar beet factories. Results show that the N-content of the soil at sowing is as important for the beet quality as the N-fertilisation itself. A clear relationship can be determined between mineral nitrogen content of the soil at sowing and the sugar content of the crop at harvest. However, corrections can be made by adjusting N-fertilisation. Beets grown on parcels with an overfertilisation of N were less profitable than those harvested from parcels with a N-fertilisation equal to the N-recommendation. In a second phase of the project, yield and quality parameters were related to intrinsic soil characteristics, using digital information from soil and soil suitability maps. From this it could be concluded that such information may be useful to refine the N-recommendations. Finally, fields with equal 'potential' for sugar beet production were compared. On these fields, differences in yield were mainly explained by N-fertilisation, soil structure, diseases (soil and plant) and sowing date.
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