Yield and Quality Characteristics, and Profitability of Some Winter–Summer Sugar Beet Varieties in Kahramanmaraş Conditions

Turkey is one of the major producers and an important center of the origin of the sugar beet. In Turkey, sugar beet production is performed only in the summer growing period. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in studying the possibilities of winter growing of sugar beet. In this context, this study was aimed to determine yield, quality characteristics, comparison of production costs and profitability of summer–winter sugarbeet varieties, and the possibilities of winter sugar beet production in Kahramanmaraş province of Turkey. The experiments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications using 17 summer and 6 winter sugar beet varieties. According to the results, on average, the root yield was 87.4 ton per hectare for summer varieties and 67.1 ton ha⁻¹ for winter varieties. White sugar yield of summer varieties was calculated 9.6 ton per hectare, while white sugar yield of winter varieties was calculated as 7.5 ton ha⁻¹. The total cost of the summer and winter varieties per hectare was 8482.0 TL and 6771.0 TL, respectively. The net profit of the summer varieties was 7250.0 TL ha⁻¹, while the net profit of the winter varieties was 7320.0 TL ha⁻¹. The relative profit of summer and winter varieties was determined as 1.85 and 2.08, respectively. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that there was a significant difference in the averages of root yield, sugar content, white sugar content and white sugar yield in both summer and winter varieties. Also, the differences in variable costs (p < 0.01), net profit (p < 0.05) and relative profit (p < 0.01) between summer and winter sugar beet production were found statistically significant. The evidence from this study indicates that policymakers should make regulations for planning winter production to provide a permanent income for farmers and sugar factories in both production periods.