Abstract:
Sugar production to meet domestic needs and exports is an important and urgent issue. In the
south of Ukraine, it is possible to increase sugar beet production by growing it on irrigated lands.
The purpose of the research was to study the peculiarities of sugar beet field evapotranspiration
depending on agronomic factors under irrigation in the south of Ukraine.
The main objectives of our research were to substantiate the water consumption of sugar
beet cultivation at different ploughing depths, nutrition backgrounds, sowing dates and planting
densities.
The field experiments were conducted in the Kherson region in the Ingulets irrigated area.
The soil cover is represented by dark chestnut slightly saline medium loamy soils.
The following factors and their variants were included in the experimental design:
Factor A – ploughing to a depth of 20-22 cm and 28-30 cm
seeding rate of germinating seeds: 6, 9 and 12 million seeds/ha.
Factor B – fertiliser background: no fertiliser, N150P150K60, 40t/ha + manure
N150P150K60, Manure 40 t/ha.
Factor C – sowing dates: the first term – at a soil temperature of 6-8°C at the depth of seed
placement (4-5 cm); the second – ten days after the first term, the third – 20 days after the first
term;
Factor D – plant density: 90, 110 and 130 thousand/ha
In our experiments, depending on the factors studied, the share of soil moisture in total water
consumption ranged from 8.6 to 23.3%, useful precipitation – from 30.8 to -35.7 and irrigation –
from 45.6 to 55.7%, i.e. irrigation takes the first place in sugar beet water consumption,
precipitation – the second and the smallest share belongs to soil moisture.
When comparing the nutrition backgrounds, it can be noted that the smallest share of soil
moisture in sugar beet water consumption was observed in the variants on the background of
applying only mineral and organic fertilizers at the third sowing term, and the largest share – on
fertilized backgrounds at the first sowing term.
Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the total water consumption of the
field during sugar beet cultivation ranged from 4128 to 5044 m3/ha. These figures were higher in
the first sowing term, and the lowest in the third sowing term. The share of participation in water
consumption was as follows: irrigation rate – 47.8-54.4%, useful precipitation – 32.4-34.9 and
soil moisture – 10.7-19.6%.
