Quantity and quality of red beet (Beta vulgaris L. ssp. vulgaris) influenced by cultivation method and nitrogen fertilization

Abstract

In a two-year investigation conducted in Jablje the highest yield of red beet roots was obtained at transplanting and fertilization with 150 to 200 kg/ha of nitrogen. Lower yield was reached at direct sowing and fertilization with 200 to 250 kg/ha of nitrogen. At this level of yield the nitrate content in the red beet roots did not exceed the allowed quantity of 3000 mg/kg, which was the case at the fertilization with 300 and 350 kg/ha of nitrogen. There was up to 7 times more nitrate in the leaf petiole than in the leaf lamina or in an undeveloped leaf; therefore, leaf petiole is the right part of the plant to determine the status of its nitrogen nutrition. Fertilization with more than 200 kg/ha N can pollute the underground water with nitrates due to their washing out.