Features of the formation of sugar beet hybrids productivity

Purpose. To reveal the features of the formation of sugar beet hybrids productivity depending on fertilizer options and harvesting time.  Methods. Field, laboratory. Results. Biological differences in the growth and development and the mass of root crops formation allowed high yielding hybrids to respond to the use of supplemental mineral nutrition properly, and therefore, high productivity rates were also obtained on fertilized variants. When harvesting root crops in September, the ‘Romul’ hybrid in the control variant formed 54.0 t/ha of root crops, and with fertilizer N150P150K150 and N300P300K300 – 74.2 t/ha. The delay in harves­ting did not lead to a significant increase in the productivity of the investigated sugar beet hybrids. Thus, in the third decade of October, sugar beets on average formed 48.8–67.9 t/ha of root crops, and root crops had an average of 18.3–20.7% sugar. The best performance was provided by the hybrid ‘Sofiia’, so the control sugar content was 22.0%, and with the fertilizer N150P150K150 – 20.5% and N300P300K300 – 19.5%. The use of fertilizers N150P150K150 and N300P300K300 contributed to higher yields of root crops with lower sugar content, which corresponded to data obtained by other scientists. Conclusions. When harvesting in the third decade of September and being fertilized with N150P150K150, hybrids formed: ‘BTsChS 57’ – 66.8, ‘Heroi’ – 66.2, ‘Romul’ – 72.0, ‘Quarta’ – 66.0 t/ha of root crops, with fertilizer in a dose of N300P300K300 – 68.8; 68.1; 74.2 and 68.0 t/ha, respectively. It was proved that at the harvesting period in the third decade of October, ‘BTsChS 57’, ‘Heroi’, ‘Sofiia’ and ‘Romul’ were the best. In addition, the introduction of the mineral nut­rition in dose N300P300K300 did not provide a yield increase that could recoup additional mineral nutrition compared to the dose N150P150K150. In terms of sugar content of the sugar beet root crops, the hybrids ‘Heroi’ – 21.4%, ‘Sofiia’ – 21.8%, ‘Ukrainskyi ChS72’ – 21.3% and ‘Romul’ – 21.4% were the best at harvesting in the third decade of September; and in the third decade of October the maximum level of sugar content in root crops was in hybrids ‘Sofiia’ – 22.0% and ‘Umanskyi’ – 21.9%. The use of mineral fertilizers led to a decrease in the sugar content in roots by about 1.3–2.5% compared with unfertilized control options. Such a reaction of plants is caused by a sufficient level of soil supply with mineral nutrition compounds.