Oakes Irrigation Research Site
Carrington Research Extension Center * North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Phone: (701) 742-2744, FAX: (701) 742-2700, E-mail:						Blaine.Schatz@ndsu.edu
						Leonard.Besemann@ndsu.edu
Energy Beet Variety Trial
Syngenta, Green Vision Group and NDSU
An irrigated energy beet variety trial was initiated at Oakes in 2009 as a cooperative project among the Green Vision Group and Syngenta and was continued in 2013.  Energy beets hold a great potential as feed stock for ethanol plants.  High yielding energy beet germplasm may yield higher than germplasm for sugarbeets that must meet rigid sugar quality and impurity indexes.  It is the objective of this trial to determine the yield potential of energy beets under irrigation in southeast North Dakota.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Soil:	Maddock sandy loam; N 16 lbs/acre.
Previous crops:	2012 – barley.
Seedbed preparation:	Conventional tillage practices.
Planting:	May 16.  Sugarbeet were planted in rows on 22‑inch centers.
Plots:	Plots were 5.5 ft (three rows) wide by 160 ft long.  The study had four replications.
Fertilizer:	Broadcast 34 lbs N/acre, 81 lbs P2O5/acre, 103 lbs K2O/acre and 19 lbs S/acre as 8‑20-26-5 May 1.  Stream bar 60 lbs N/acre June 12 and June 27, stream bar 50 lbs N/acre July 14 as 28-0-0.
Irrigation:	Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed.
Pest control:	Roundup Power Max (30 oz/acre) June 6 and Roundup Power Max (40 oz/acre) July 4 for weed control.  Proline (5.7 oz/acre) August 13 and September 10, Headline (12 oz/acre) August 27 for disease control.  Kendo (3½ oz/acre) July 29 for insect control.
Harvest:	September 30, harvest area was two 30 foot sections from the center row of each plot.
	Table 1. Sugar content, root yield and overall sugar yield of energy
	beet varieties at the Oakes Irrigation Research Site in 2013.
		Root Yield	Sugar Content	Sugar Yield
		ton/ac	%	lb/ac
	1	30.2	15.8	9,543
	2	28.8	16.1	9,235
	3	28.5	16.3	9,275
	4	30.5	15.4	9,403
	5	32.0	15.9	10,150
	6	34.2	15.5	10,583
	7	31.2	15.8	9,828
	8	29.7	16.0	9,467
	MEAN	30.6	15.8	9,694
										.
	Planting Date: April 23; Harvest Date: September 30
Oakes Irrigation Research Site
Variety trials	Crop index	Home page	Report 2013