Sugar Beet

Land Requirements . Land to be used for seed production shall be free of volunteer plants.  
Isolation Requirements Sugar beet is cross-pollinated by wind or insects. Pollen normally sheds over a period of weeks, therefore chances ofcontamination due to outcrossing are prolonged.
The sugar beet seed fields shall be isolated from fields of other varieties, of same vareity not conforming tovarieties purity requirements of certification, and fields of swiss chard, spinach beet and garden beet at least by 5 meters at mother root production stage; and by 1600 meters and 1000 meters, at seed production stage for foundation seed and certified seed stage respectively.

 

Cultural Practices

Time of Sowing Sowing should be so planned that stecklings get fully developed before the severe winter. Therefore, in areas of heavy snow fall, mid-June is the best time for sowing while in areas of low snow fall a july sowing is ideal.
  


Preparation of Land Good land preparation is necessary. the field should be ploughed once and harrowed two to three times, followed by levelling. Adequate moisture in the field at the time of sowing is necessary for obtaining good germination.


Source of Seed Obtain breeder's/foundation seeds from source approved by a seed certification agency.


Seed Rate a) In situ crop                 Five to six kiligrammes per hectare for monogerm
                                      varieties, 10 kg per hectare for multigerm varieties.
b) Transplanted corp      10 kg per hectare for monogerm varieties; 10 to 20 kg
(for raising stecklings)      formultigerm varieties.
Stecklings form one hectare are sufficient to plant 7 to 8 hectares of seed field.


Sowing of Seeds Ridge sowing is normally recommended for sugar beet. In areas where a dry climate prevails, flat sowing may also be done.


Fertilisation the commercial crop of subar geet requires 100 to 150 kg of nitrogen, 50 kg phosphorus and 150 kg of potash. In seed crop apply 50 to 60 per cent of the commercial crop nutrient requirement before sowing in the nursery, and 125 to 150 per cent of commercial beet crop in the seed fiedl. Apply full phosphorus, potash and half nitrogen at the time of stecking planting. The remaining half nitrogen should be applied after forty five dayswhen the leaves start developing. In addtion to NPK, the application of Borax at the rate of 20 kg to30 kg per hectare has been found useful in preventing canker. borax also helps in good root development.


Spacing                                                             Row to row                Plant to Plant
a) In situ crop                                        60 cm                       15 to 20 cm
b)Transplanted crop
1) For raising stecklings                         45 cm                        10 cm
2) For transplanting stecklings                60 cm                         45 cm


Irrigation Irrigation of the field at flowering time has been found very useful. At other times, irrigate the seed field as deemed necessary.


Interculture Keep the field free of weeds for at least the first sixty days. The first weeding and interculture should be done when the crop is about four to five weeks old. the second weeding should be done after sixty days. The use of weedicides such as beetamin and pyramin at the rate of 2 kg per hectare 30 days after sowing and before emergence respectively has also been found useful.


Insect and Disease Control Adopt recommended IPM methods


Roguing the diseased and off-type plants must be rogued out from the fiedl. Rogue out diseased plants, early bolters, off-type plants from time to time.


Harvesting , Threshing and Storage of Seeds

The seed crop can be harvested when two thirds of the seeds are ripe. At this stage, seeds at the base of the branches mature and turn noticeably brown. Ripe seeds sometime shatter, but if plants are pulled early in morning when moist, shattering is prevented. Harvesting should usually be done by hand as moving is not satisfactory. Because ripening is uneven, two to three hand harvestings are often necessary. In regions with frequent rain, plants should be tied into bundles and cured in stacks and left until hard and mature. Rain does not hurt seed but may discolour it. When carting sheaves to thresher, care in handling is necessary to avoid shattering.
Seed can be threshed with an ordinary grain thresher. Combines can also be used forthreshing. Rough cleaning with fanning mill removes all shrunken seeds, weeds and stalks, etc. to remove excess moisture, maximum drying temperature should not exceed 40 C.
The seed should be dried to nine to ten per cent mositure for safe storage.
After cleaning,seeds may be "rubbed and graded" with the help of suitable machines.


Seed Yield The average seed yield is about 8 to 10 qtl per hectare.