EFFECT OF SULPHUR FERTILISATION ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF SUGAR BEET ROOTS

Sulphur deposition after desulfurization does not fully cover the nutritional demand of sugar beet and others agricultural crops. A vegetation pot experiment was established to determine the effect of application of various forms of sulphur on the yield and quality of sugar beet. The experiment included the following variants: 1. unfertilized control, 2. elemental sulphur, 3. ammonium sulphate, 4. gypsum, 5. foliar application of elemental sulphur. Nitrogen fertilization was uniform for all variants. The results show that the variant with foliar application of elemental sulphur achieved the best quantitative and qualitative parameters in most cases. A possible explanation can be improved health of sugar beet in this variant. Sugar beet after foliar application of sulphur resisted the invasion of Erysiphe betae. The least favourable results in the experiment were observed after ammonium sulphate application. The lowest yield of roots and sugar content was obtained after fertilization with ammonium sulphate. Compared to other sulphur variants in the experiment, ammonium sulphate appears to be the least suitable fertilizer for sugar beet.