SUGAR BEET (Beta vulgaris, ssp. Esculenta, var. altissima)

Sugar beet is biennial plant. It forms the bulb and leaf rose at the first year of vegetation. The leaves of sugar beet have strong stems, very curly lamina, the leaves are put together at leaf rose on the head of beetroot. The main stem and side stems grow at the second year of vegetation, and the generative organs on them. The flower has 2 – 5 flowerets together, so they form glomerule. The glomerule is set of false growths (globular achenes), they are closed at sclerotic dry corolla. The seeds are big 1 – 2 mm, brown colored, flat.

 The beetroot of sugar beet is part of plant without the leaves (sometimes named as the root). The beetroot is formed by:

• Head (epicotyl) – upper part of the beetroot, there the leaf rose grows up, the lowest ring of leaf eyes forms the border
• Neck (hypocotyl) – part of beetroot between the head and the main root, it does not hold leaves and roots
• Main root (radix) – lower and the biggest part of beetroot, there the side roots grow up
   

 Meaning and content

The sugar beet is grown mainly as a technical crop, it is raw material for sugar production (there the mean consumption is between 36 and 40 kg / 1 person / 1 year in the Czech Republic). The sugar beet is used as a feed less commonly (beetroots, tops and side products from sugar production, cuttings and molasses). There the possibilities to use the sugar beet for alcohol production are observed at present, or more precisely ETBE, the ingredients used in fuels. There the other possibilities of use the sugar beet are tested at chemistry, for feeding yeast production, etc.

The matters of beetroot are divided into the marrow and beet juice by the technological aspect. The complex of water insoluble matters forms the marrow. The marrow is formed by fibre (pentoses, pectic matters, cellulose, lignin), plant proteins, trace amount of organic matters, circa 4 % water insoluble organic acids. The rest is formed by beet juice, it is water and dissolved matter in the water (sucrose forms 87 %). The beetroot contains circa 76 % of water and 24 % of dry matter. It is possible to get 12,5 % of white sugar, 5,5 % of cuttings and 4,5 % of molasses by the sugar beet processing at sugar beet factory. The most important for quality valuation of sugar beet is the content sucrose and matters which form the molasses. The sucrose gets with concentration between 15 and 18 %, maximally 20 – 22 %.

Grower requirements

The winter cereals are the most suitable foregoing crops for sugar beet, in most cases winter wheat. It is not good to grow the sugar beet after sugar beet earlier than after 4 or 5 years. The utilization of manures is essential for fertilization of sugar beet. It is very important to carry out soil analysis by the reason of the amount of nutrients, the sugar beet is very sensitive to high amounts of nitrogen, it causes drop in sugar content, sometimes drop in yield. The growths of sugar beet are founded by punctual seeding amounts by final distance (technology without hand working). There the sugar beet is founded by the final distance of 18 – 21 cm at present. There punctual seeding machineries are used for seeding of sugar beet. There the sugar beet is sown from 15^th March to 20^th April in the Czech Republic. The line weeding is used for growth of sugar beet in the period of seedling emergence (less recently), when it is important for the growth (weedy inter-row, formed soil crust, etc.). The sugar beet is first harvested toward the end of September, or more precisely at the first ten days of October, there is a presumption of high technological quality of beetroots, the harvest should be finished to 15^th November. The sugar beet is harvested by mechanization. Basic alternates of sugar beet harvest are single-phase harvest, there the tops and beetroots are harvested together by one type of machine. The other alternate is double-phase harvest. There two separate machines work. These are top cutter and self-loading beetroot digger or trimming digger of beetroots (beetroots are trimmed, turned up and placed on the row) and beetroot loader which picks the beetroots. At present the crushing of the tops is used, its spreading on the field and it is ploughed under the soil as a green manure.