Dry Matter Production and Partitioning Pattern in Sugar Beet

Abstract

Abstract-The investigation was conducted to study dry matter production and partitioning of assimilates in sugar beet. This study was undertaken during 2010 at the farm of Khorasan Agric. Res. Center located in southern west of Mashhad, Iran. Ten different genotypes of sugar beet i.e. 461, 419, 7617, 8090, 436, 428, 231, 474, 7233-P12 and Kahriz were compard using a Randomized Complete Block design with 4 replications. Results showed a slow increment in dry matter production in early season followed by a rapid and almost constant phase and finally another period of slow growth. The genotypes under study were divided into two groups (by Cluster analysis) namely, Low yielded and High yielded genotypes based on dry matter production. Foliage dry matter was higher than roots during 50 days after emergence but it changed in favour of roots later on so that the growth of roots dominated foliage parts of crop. This pattern were continued for about100 days after emergence. Since then almost the whole produced dry matter were diverted to roots by the end of season. Root/Shoot ratio were linearly increased during the growth season, and it was higher in high yielded genotypes. Sugar yield were increased with a linear trend in different genotypes about 100 days after emergence till harvest time. Significant difference between various genotypes from Harvest Index point of view were not recorded.