Productivity and Quality of Sugar Beet in Relation to Sowing Methods and Plant Density Under Center Pivot Irrigation System

Abstract

After sugarcane, sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is regarded as the second most significant sugar crop. It is an edible plant of the Amaranthaceae family. It is an essential crop for humans as a source of high energy and as a source of feed for livestock. The significance of this crop stems from its ability to grow on the recently reclaimed ground and provide a high sugar recovery rate, as well as its lower water need when compared to sugarcane.Furthermore, sugar beet is specialized as a short-duration crop, with a growth time around half that of sugarcane. Furthermore, being the most significant cash crop in the cycle, sugar beet leaves the land in good condition for the next summer grain harvest. As a result, it became the first source of sugar production in Egypt. (Amr and Ghaffar, 2010).Sugar beet production accounted for 67.7 % (1.8 million tons) of total sugar production in Egypt. The total sugar beet cultivated area in Egypt reached 617000 feddans. However, the total sugar beet cultivated area in the world is estimated to be 12.5 million