Growth, gas exchanges and production of beet CV. katrina under organo-mineral fertilization / Crescimento, trocas gasosas e produção da beterraba CV. Katrina sob adubação organomineral

The beet culture has great economic and food importance in the world, especially with respect to energy generation. In Brazil the culture is still little studied, lacking studies in all stages of production of culture, mainly in the management of fertilization. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of organo-mineral fertilization on growth, gas exchanges and production of beet, cv. Katrina. The experiment was conducted under field conditions in the municipality of Pombal-PB, Brazil, from September to December 2015, in a randomized block design. The treatments were arranged in a 4 x 2 factorial scheme and corresponded to four periods of fermentation of the biofertilizer (10, 20, 30 and 40 days) applied in soils with and without mineral fertilization, with four replicates and 18 plants evaluated per plot. Plants were conducted for 70 days after transplanting, in 15-cm-high, 1-m-wide beds. During this period, plant growth, gas exchanges and production components were evaluated. The application of mineral biofertilizer fermented for 20 to 30 days, associated with mineral fertilization with 36 g m-2 of P2O5, 18.0 g m-2 of K2O and 14 g m-2 of N at planting, promoted better performance of growth, gas exchanges and production of beet plants. In the soil without mineral fertilization, it is recommended to use the longest biofertilizer fermentation periods, 30 to 40 days, for beet cultivation.

A cultura da beterraba tem grande importância econômica e alimentar no mundo, especialmente no que diz respeito à geração de energia. No Brasil, a cultura ainda é pouco estudada, faltando estudos em todos os estágios de produção da cultura, principalmente no manejo da adubação. Objetivou-se no presente trabalho, avaliar a adubação organomineral no crescimento, trocas gasosas e produção da beterraba cv. Katrina. O experimento foi conduzido em condições de campo, no município de Pombal, PB, no período de setembro a dezembro de 2015. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o de blocos ao acaso, com tratamentos arranjados em esquema fatorial 4 x 2, relativos a quatro períodos de fermentação do biofertilizante (10, 20, 30 e 40 dias) aplicados em solos com e sem adubação mineral, com quatro repetições e 18 plantas úteis por parcela. As plantas foram conduzidas durante 70 dias após o transplantio, em canteiros de 15 cm de altura, com 1 m de largura. Durante esse período, avaliou-se o crescimento, trocas gasosas e os componentes de produção. A adubação com biofertilizante mineral fermentado no período entre 20 e 30 dias associado à adubação mineral com 36 g m-2 de P2O5, 18,0 g m-2 de K2O e 14 g m-2 de N no plantio, proporcionou melhor desempenho no crescimento, trocas gasosas e produção da beterraba. No solo sem adubação mineral, recomenda-se a utilização dos maiores períodos de fermentação do biofertilizante, 30 a 40 dias, para o cultivo da beterraba.

Comparison of haploid and doubled haploid sugar beet clones in their ability to micropropagate and regenerate

Background: Haploid plant material is considered as recalcitrant to organogenesis, propagation, and maintenance in vitro. However, sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) breeders utilizing doubled haploid (DH) technology in their breeding programs indicate that sugar beet haploids may be cultured in vitro as well as diploids. Thus in this paper the in vitro performance of haploid and the doubled haploid sugar beet of various origin was evaluated. The DHs were derived from haploids by diploidization and twelve such haploid and corresponding DH clone pairs were obtained thus the comparison included haploid and DH clones that had identical allelic composition and differed only in their ploidy level. Results: The genotypes differed in shoot morphology and susceptibility to blackening during culture in vitro, but no significant differences were observed between the haploids and DHs. The micropropagation rate was, on average, higher for the haploids than DHs. Viability of the midrib and petiole explants after a 6-week culture was highly genotype dependent, but not affected by explant ploidy level. However, regeneration efficiency depended on both the genotype and ploidy level. The explants of several haploids regenerated more frequently and developed more adventitious shoots than the corresponding DHs thus overall efficiency was higher for haploids. Conclusions: The results obtained indicate that most of the haploids used in the comparison performed similar to or even better than DHs. This suggests that sugar beet haploid material can be successfully used not only for the production of DHs, but also maintained in vitro and utilized in projects requiring haploid tissues as the source material.

Assessment of allelopathic properties of Aloe ferox Mill. on turnip, beetroot and carrot

Turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa L.), beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) and carrot (Daucus carota L.) are common vegetables in South Africa. The allelopathic potential of aqueous leaf and root extracts of Aloe ferox Mill.- a highly valued medicinal plant- was evaluated against seed germination and seedling growth of the three vegetables in Petri dish experiments. The extracts were tested at concentrations of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mg/mL. Leaf extract concentrations above 4 mg/mL inhibited the germination of all the crops, while the root extract had no significant effect on germination irrespective of concentration. Interestingly, the lowest concentration of leaf extract stimulated root length elongation of beetroot by 31.71%. Other concentrations significantly inhibited both root and shoot growth of the vegetable crops except the turnip shoot. The most sensitive crop was carrot, with percentage inhibition ranging from 29.15 to 100% for root and shoot lengths. Lower percentage inhibition was observed for the root extract than the leaf extract against shoot growth of beetroot and carrot. The results from this study suggested the presence of allelochemicals mostly in the leaves of A. ferox that could inhibit the growth of the turnip, beetroot and carrot.

Effects of irrigation water qualities on biomass and sugar contents of sugar beet and sweet sorghum cultivars.

An experiment involving four qualities of irrigation water two sugar beet and three sweet sorghum cultivars was conducted in a split plot design with four replications at Rudasht Drainage and Reclamation Experiment Station in 1999. The results showed salinity of water has an adverse effect on sugar beet and sweet sorghum biomass. Sweet sorghum cultivar SSV108 had the lowest biomass under all qualities of irrigation water Sweet sorghum cultivar Rio had the maximum biomass with water qualities of 2, 5, and 8 dS m(-1). Sugar beet cultivar 7233 had the maximum biomass with 11 dS m(-1). The effect of irrigation water quality was not significant for sugar characteristics such as brix, pol and purity. However, responses of cultivars on the above parameters were significant and sugar beet cultivars had higher brix, pol and purity and lower invert sugar and starch than sweet sorghum cultivars. In conclusion, sweet sorghum cultivars are not recommended to be irrigated with saline water of more than 8 dS m(-1) for sugar production. Under such condition, they may be suitable to be grown for forage purposes.

Effect of water quality on yield of sugar beet and sweet sorghum.

To study the effects of quality of water on soil and plant, an experiment was conducted at Rudashat Drainage and Reclamation Experiment Station in 1999. Four irrigation water salinities (2, 5, 8 and 11 ds m(-1)) and two sugar crops (sugar beet and sweet sorghum) were used in this experiment. The results showed that under the same water quality, sweet sorghum used 2700 cubic meter per hectare less water than sugar beet. As the quality of irrigation water decreased, the soil salinity and exchangeable sodium percent increased which caused yield reduction for both plants. Sugar beet by accumulating Na and Cl in its leaves tolerated salinity but its usage as a forage crop caused some limitations, whereas sweet sorghum by not accumulating Na and Cl escape salinity and it can be used as a forage crop without any limitation.