INFLUENCE OF WEED INTERFERENCE ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF SUGAR BEET

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Agricultural, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

2 Sugar Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Weed interference exerted a drastic reduction on plant height, number of leaves and leaf area of vegetative parts, as well as dimen­sions, size, fresh and dry weights and RGR of root and consequently eco­nomic yield of sugar beet plant. The extent of reduction was dependent on the associated weed species. Accordingly, it is possible to produce tentative ranking of competitive abilities of the seven weed species un­der investigation as following: highly competitve: wild beet, canarygrass and bermudagrasss; moderately competitive: dock weed and tooth pick and poorly competitive: lambsquarters and bindweed. Sucrose 96, T.S.S. and nutrient (N, K and Na) concentration val­ues of beet root juice were higher in weed-free treatment than the weedy ones. The higher competitve weeds (wild beet, canarygrass and bermueda-grass) were also the most effective competitors for N, K and Na nutrients uptake, but it was not as effective on T.S.S. and surcrose Values.