Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Water Management Research Institute, National Water Research Center, 13621/5, Qaliubiya, Egypt
2
Sugar Crops Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt.
3
Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University
4
Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University , 12613, Giza, Egypt
Abstract
Soil and water agro-management techniques play a critical role in grown crops to increase productivity. Mulching is one of the good agriculture practices methods to conserve soil moisture, control weeds and improve soil physical properties. Two field experiments were implemented at Wadi El-Natron Research Station, Water Management Research Institute, National Water Research Center, Egypt, during 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 winter seasons to evaluate the effect of four mulching types, No Mulch (NM, Control), Rice Straw Mulch (RSM), White Polyethylene Film Mulch (WPFM) and Black Polyethylene Film Mulch (BPFM) of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L. cv, Zwanpoly) yield and quality as well as water use efficiency for root (WUEroot) and sugar (WUEsugar) in sandy soil. Significant differences among mulching types were observed. The results indicated that, both BPFM and WPFM recorded the highest sucrose values (21.14 and 19.77%), purity (85.88 and 82.01%), extractable sugar (19.49 and 17.68%), root yield (58.70 and 53.92 ton ha-1) and sugar yield (11.44 and 9.53 ton ha-1) in the 1st and 2nd season, respectively. On the contrary, NM recorded the highest impurities percentage and low weed control efficiency. Average of WUEroot (6.08, 7.36, 9.78 and 9.97 kg m-3) and WUEsugar (0.89, 1.16, 1.73 and 1.94 kg m-3) resulted from NM, RSM, WPFM, and BPFM, respectively, as an average in two seasons. Weed control efficiency values were (40.9, 30.45, 5.2 and zero%) for BPFM, WPFM, RSM, and NM, respectively and that helped in maintaining higher moisture content in the crop root zone.
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