Effects of Different Irrigation and Fertilization Levels on the Yield and Quality of Sugar Beet Molasses

The aim of this research is to investigate the yield and quality effects of different irrigation and fertilization levels on sugar beet roots and molasses. Field studies of sugar beet were carried out in the Agricultural Research Area of BUÜ Yenişehir İbrahim Orhan Vocational School in the 2019–2020 trial years, physical analyses were carried out in the food Laboratory and nutritional content analyses of molasses were carried out at Bursa Food and Feed Control Research Institute. Twelve different study treatments were created by combining four different irrigation levels and three different fertilization levels. Drip irrigation system was used to carry out the irrigation and fertilization applications in the study subjects in a controlled manner. The amount of plant water consumption (ET) was calculated with the water balance equation (I + P − Dp ± ΔSW). In the study, the maximum and minimum amounts of irrigation water applied in both years were calculated as 880.0–220.0 mm and 820.0–205 mm, respectively, while the lowest and highest plant water consumption values were calculated as 842.0–336.0 and 854.0–342 mm. While the root yields of sugar beet in the research years varied between 115.8–36.0 and 114.6–34.6 t ha⁻¹, respectively, the molasses rates in sugar beet varied between 5.12–4.00 and 4.97–4.00, respectively. When the productivity and quality losses in sugar beet are evaluated together in response to the decrease in irrigation and fertilization levels, it is recommended that the I₇₅F₇₅ issue be preferred. The use of molasses obtained from sugar beet roots as animal feed is of great industrial importance.