Fodder beets - an unpretentious crop grown for livestock feed. Its juicy roots, rich in pectins and fiber, are especially valuable in the absence of green fodder. We will learn about the popular varieties of this culture, how to plant, grow and save it until spring.
The history of the emergence of fodder beets
Beetroot has been known in Europe since the 13th century, and the Germans were the first to feed it on livestock. Farmers noticed that feeding beets to livestock had a positive effect on milk yield and taste.
In the 16th century, beets were divided into two types in Germany - fodder and sugar. The first was actively grown for livestock feed. Since the 18th century, fodder beets have been cultivated in all European countries.
Description of culture
Fodder beets are a biennial crop. In the first year, a thickened root crop and a rosette formed by basal leaves grow. In the second year of growth, shoots appear, bearing fruit with seeds.
Plant Description:
- Roots. They can be saccular, oval-conical, cylindrical or spherical. Average weight - 0.5-2.5 kg. Root crops can have different colors - red, pink, yellow, greenish-white, violet, orange.
- Shoots. In the first year of life, the culture grows a lush rosette of green heart-shaped leaves. The socket height is up to 1 m.
- Inflorescences. On leafy peduncles, paniculate inflorescences grow, in which seeds ripen.
Advantages and disadvantages
The fodder crop in question has pros and cons that are useful for livestock breeders to know about.
Advantages of fodder beets:
- ideal for feeding livestock;
- high productivity;
- helps to improve the digestion of animals;
- increases soil fertility, reduces weed infestation;
- possesses milk-producing properties.
Disadvantages:
- requires regular watering and feeding;
- exactingness to the quality of the soil;
- relatively low protein content;
- if you give a dairy cow more than 10 kg of beets per day, the fat content of milk decreases, and its taste deteriorates;
- the need to change the place of cultivation every year.
Comparison of fodder and sugar beets
Two related crops have much in common, but there are enough differences between fodder and sugar beets.
Comparison of fodder and sugar beets:
Signs | Fodder | Sugar |
Appearance | The fruits are dark, the leaves are shiny. | It features a large number of leaves. |
Root growth | The degree of immersion in the ground depends on the variety. | The fruit is completely in the soil. It has a more powerful root system. |
Using | Livestock feed. Both root crops and tops are used. | For sugar production. Tops and root crops can be used as food. |
Composition | It is inferior in energy value. | More sucrose by 20%. |
Fodder beet varieties
Varieties of fodder beets cultivated by farmers differ in maturity, shape and color of root crops.
Jamon
Productivity - 80-85 centners per hectare. The shape of the root crop is cylindrical-conical. Medium-sized fruits. Orange color. Weight - up to 5 kg. Buried in the ground by 30%. The pulp is white and juicy. Root vegetables are stored until May.
Starmon
Productivity up to 70 tons per hectare. Does not grow on saline and acidic soils. The rosette of the plant is erect, the leaves are elongated. The shape of the fruit is conical. Fruit color: underground part - yellow, aboveground - green. Average weight - 10 kg.
Lada
The variety has good keeping quality. Productivity - 120 tons per hectare, maximum - 170 tons per hectare. The variety is little susceptible to flowering. Weight - up to 10 kg. Color - white or pinkish-white. The pulp is juicy, white and firm.
Milan
A hybrid of the Belarusian selection. Root crops yield - up to 140 tons per 1 ha. The lower part of root crops is white, the aerial part is green. Erect rosettes, leaves of medium width, with white veins. Root crops are 60% buried in the soil. Differs in a low degree of soil contamination. Root crops are stored, stored until the end of spring.
Record Poly
A multi-sprout medium late variety. Productivity - up to 130 tons per hectare. Root crops are submerged in the soil by 40% and are slightly contaminated with soil. Color - rose red. The pulp is juicy and white. Root weight - up to 6 kg.
Eckendorf yellow
Cold resistant grade. Productivity - up to 150 tons per hectare. The variety is resistant to flowering and does not form arrows. Root crops are yellow, 30% submerged in the soil. Weight - up to 900 g.
Preparatory work
In order to grow large root crops of fodder beets, it is necessary to properly prepare the soil and seeds.
Where to plant beets?
The culture grows well on soils with a neutral and slightly acidic reaction (up to pH 7.5). On swampy, clayey, stony and sandy soils, the cultivation of fodder beets does not bring the expected yields.
Beets grow well after cereals, corn and vegetables. In feed crop rotation, the best predecessors are:
- silage corn;
- cereal and legume mixture;
- melons and gourds.
You can re-plant fodder beets in one field after 3 years, not earlier.
Soil preparation
The culture is demanding on the fertility of the land, so before sowing it is necessary to carefully prepare the soil, improve its structure and composition.
The procedure for preparing soil for sowing:
- Remove weeds from the area. Weed out the weeds, and after two weeks, when new shoots appear, repeat weeding. To get rid of perennials - wheatgrass and sow thistle, treat the area with herbicides, for example, "Buran" or "Roundup".
- In the fall, add organic matter for digging. For 1 ha - 35 tons of humus or compost and 0.5 tons of ash.
- Re-dig the soil before planting, introducing a nitroammophoska - 15 g per 1 linear meter.
The ideal soil for sowing fodder beets is loose, moisturized with fine lumps.
Seed preparation
To prevent the seeds from rotting in the ground, they must be processed. Treatment will also prevent many diseases.
Processing Order:
- Soak the seeds in a saturated solution of potassium permanganate. Enough 30 minutes.
- For the seeds to sprout at the same time, place them in a growth promoter.
- Dry the seeds.
Landing
The success of growing a forage crop largely depends on the timeliness of sowing activities and compliance with the sowing scheme.
Timing
Fodder beets have a fairly long growing season - 120-150 days, so they need to be planted early - as soon as favorable weather conditions develop. Sowing of fodder beets begins after the soil warms up to + 7 ° C, not earlier.
When determining the sowing time, they take into account the characteristics of a particular variety and climate:
- Regions with a temperate climate. Sowing is carried out from 15 to 30 March. In case of unfavorable weather conditions, sowing operations are postponed to early April.
- Northern regions. Beets are sown here from early April to mid-May.
Sowing
If the soil warms up to +7 .. + 8 ° C, and the seeds are processed, you can start sowing.
Sowing order:
- On the site, make furrows at intervals of 60 cm from each other.
- Bury the seeds in the soil by 3 cm. m - 15 seeds.
- Sprinkle the seeds with soil.
At a temperature of + 8 ° C, seedlings appear in about 12-14 days, at + 15 ° C - after 4-5 days. If the air temperature drops to minus 3 ° C, seedlings may suffer.
Care features
Agrotechnical measures:
- Watering... The frequency of watering depends on the weather and the growing season. Watering Rules:
- the water rate increases during the period of growth and formation of root crops;
- watering should be stopped a month before harvesting.
- Weed control. Weeds can lose up to 80% of the crop. Weeding of the rows is carried out until the tops of the plants are closed.
- Thinning. Culture grows slowly during the first 1.5 months. But as soon as a pair of true leaves appear at the seedlings, thinning is carried out. There should be 4-5 plants left on one running meter, no more. The interval between adjacent shoots is 25 cm.
- Loosening. The first time the soil is loosened 2 days after sowing, and then after each watering. A flat cutter is used for loosening.
- Fertilizer application. To increase yields during the growing season, the crop is regularly fed. The composition of fertilizers and their quantity depends on the type of soil. Commonly used:
- nitrogen fertilizers - 130 kg per 1 ha;
- potash-phosphorus mixtures - up to 150 kg per 1 ha;
- boron fertilizers - 180 kg per 1 ha.
If you do not stop watering 30 days before harvesting, the sugar content in the root crops will decrease and their keeping quality will worsen.
Diseases and Pests
They try not to treat fodder beets with insecticides and fungicides so as not to harm animals. To combat diseases and pests, they use mainly preventive measures.
Common beet diseases:
- Powdery mildew. It appears as an off-white coating on the leaves. To resist a dangerous fungal disease helps:
- timely destruction of plant residues;
- compliance with crop rotation;
- application of mineral fertilizers;
- spraying with fungicides;
- timely watering.
- Cercosporosis. It affects the leaves - light spots with a brown-red border appear on them. The fight comes down to the timely destruction of plant debris, fertilizing beets with mineral fertilizers and taking measures to preserve moisture in the soil (loosening, snow retention, weeding weeds).
- Fomoz. It usually appears at the end of the growing season, therefore, it mainly harms root crops. The causative agent, penetrating inside, leads to rotting of the core. Phomosis is often caused by a lack of boron in the soil. Control measures - seed treatment with polycarbacin and the introduction of boron into the ground (3 g per 1 sq. M).
- Korneed. This disease causes decay of shoots and roots. Develops on waterlogged soils, poor in humus. It is necessary to observe crop rotation, loosen the soil, dress the seed.
- Rope rot. It affects root crops during storage. The causative agent may be of bacterial or fungal origin. The affected root crops first rot from the inside, later a gray or white coating appears at the top. To prevent clump rot, it is important not to allow root crops to wither and freeze, to provide optimal storage conditions.
The main beet pests:
- Beet fleas. They bite through leaves, they can destroy seedlings. Activity:
- observance of agricultural techniques - early sowing, loosening, top dressing;
- seed dressing;
- in case of a mass attack of flea beetles - spraying with "Phosphamide" 40%.
- Beet aphid. It sucks out juices from the aboveground parts of plants. It is recommended to spray plantings with 50% malathion (800 l per 1 ha).
- Beet fly. Its larvae damage the leaves. Deep autumn plowing and insecticide spraying are required.
- Beet weevil. Eats leaves and roots. Control measures include loosening the soil, autumn plowing and spraying with insecticides. You can also lay out poisonous baits.
Harvesting and storage
In order for the roots to be stored for a long time and not to deteriorate, it is necessary to remove them in time, as well as to create favorable storage conditions.
Recommendations:
- Cleaning is finished before frost.
- Root crops are dried, cut off the tops and remove adhered soil.
- Root crops are stored in well-ventilated cellars, in clean containers. The temperature is maintained at + 2 ... + 4 ° C.
- Beets can also be stored in piles - large piles. The width of the shoulders is 3 m, the length is 25 m, the height is 1.5 m. Straw and earth are laid on top of the root crops with a layer of at least 60 cm.
How does feed beet affect animals?
Beetroot is a valuable food source for a wide variety of animals. It can be given to cows, goats, pigs and chickens.
Beet feed affects animals in different ways:
- Cows. Regular inclusion of beets in the diet increases milk yield. The maximum rate is 10-18 kg per day. Half a month before calving, feeding on beets is stopped.
Root vegetables are given steamed. They are crushed and poured with boiling water, and then mixed with hay or straw. - Goats. Improves digestion. Increases milk yield and fat content. For a goat, 3-4 kg of beets per day are enough.
- Chickens. Replenishes the lack of calcium in the body of birds. The eggs acquire a dense shell, their color becomes more saturated, the yolk becomes bright yellow. One individual per day should have no more than 40 g.
- Pigs. They are given raw and cooked. Pigs are happy to eat root vegetables. Beets normalize digestion in animals and contribute to weight gain. The root vegetable improves fat metabolism - this leads to a decrease in the fat content of meat.
The agricultural technique of growing fodder beets is simple and does not require large investments. Under favorable growing conditions, this crop yields high yields, which become the key to high milk yield and successful fattening of animals for meat.
Author of the publication
12
Russia. City Novosibirsk
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