Author
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McGrath, Jon |
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Duckert, Timothy |
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Submitted to: Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report
Publication Type: Other Publication Acceptance Date: 9/5/2002 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Smooth-root (SR) sugar beets have a number of potential advantages in reducing soil tare transportation and disposal costs, reducing spread of soil borne diseases and pests, and perhaps reducing tap root breakage at harvest and the subsequent increase in respiration of wounded beets in factory piles. The primary test for SR selection has been a visual rating of the depth of the suture that vertically spirals along either side of the harvested root, with SR beets having little or no observable suture in the extreme case. In few instances has the actual tare weight been taken on beets. The purpose of this test was to measure soil tare from a simulated harvest to processing stream at three different stages. The first simulated transfer of beets was from the harvester to the transport vehicle, and would represent soil left at the site of harvest, the second point simulated tare from the transport vehicle to the beet piler at the piling grounds, and would represent the soil needing transport away from the piler, and the third tare dirt collection simulated soil lost from washing beets in the processing flume, and would represent the amount of soil requiring disposal by the factory. First and second soil tare differences between entries were statistically significant, but there was no correlation with SR score. The reason for the failure to detect lower first and second soil tare in SR beets may have been due to atypical soil conditions, beet size, and the techniques of measurement. Differences in dry soil per beet were statistically significant between entries and were correlated with SR vs. non-SR beets suggesting that SR beets will reduce the soil disposal load at the factory. |
