New foliar fertiliser for sugar beet cultivation – Optima Sugar+
This spring, Soiltech will be introducing Optima Sugar+, its new foliar fertiliser. Optima Sugar+ has been developed and optimized for sugar beet cultivation, and it also works well with other crops. In our previous crop guide article we gave you some insight into the background of this product, its composition and its application. If you missed this article, you can read it here.
In this article, we would like to share some of the results of Optima Sugar+ trials.
Improved leaf development
The fact that Optima Sugar+ increases sugar production by improving leaf quality became very clear during the past year (see photos below). Where the untreated plot (i.e. basic fertiliser, but no crop protection or fertiliser) clearly failed, the Standard Practice plot (i.e. basic fertiliser and crop protection, but no fertiliser) showed a significantly better result. But above and beyond that, the plot subject to 'Standard Practice + Optima Sugar+’ showed an even fuller and greener crop compared with the Standard Practice one.
Untreated
Standard Practice
Standard Practice + Commercial reference
Standard Practice + Optima Sugar+
Higher gross revenue
The improved crop condition also led to an increase in the gross sugar beet yield (see figure 1). In both 2019 and 2020, the yield of the plots treated with Optima Sugar+ was between 5.6% and 9.2% higher compared with the Standard Practice reference.
Figure 1: Gross yield (tonnes/ha) from various trials using Optima Sugar+ on sugar beet. Percentage difference is the difference in relation to the Standard Practice plot. The PPO-WUR trial conducted in 2019 in Valthermond, the Exploras trial conducted in 2020 at Dongen, the Agro Research International (ARI) trial conducted in 2020 at Dedemsvaart.
Higher sugar yield
In addition to the above, the total sugar yield from crops in the various tests was increased (see Figure 2). The average sugar yield for the crops treated with Optima Sugar+ was 6.7% to 10.3% higher in comparison to the Standard Practice plot, on which no foliar fertiliser was used.
Figure 2: Gross yield (tonnes/ha) from various trials using Optima Sugar+ on sugar beet. The percentage difference is the difference in relation to the Standard Practice plot. PPO-WUR trial conducted in 2019 in Valthermond, Exploras trial conducted in 2020 at Dongen, Agro Research International (ARI) trial conducted in 2020 at Dedemsvaart.
Conclusion:
In the various independent trials carried out by Soiltech in 2019 and 2020, increased yield was repeatedly demonstrated in crops treated with Optima Sugar+. During the course of cultivation, there was often a visible improvement in the crop condition, which paid out, after harvest, in both higher gross sugar beet yield and increased sugar yield.
If you would like more information about these trials, please contact info@soiltech.nl.
