Crop rotation effects on yield, technological quality and yield stability of sugar beet after 45 trial years

Long-term field trials constitute an essential basis for research into the effects of agricultural management practices on yield and soil properties. The long-term field trial Etzdorf (Germany) was set up in 1970 and uses various crop rotations with sugar beets (Beta vulgaris L., SB) to investigate the influence of increasing cropping concentrations (20 %-100 %) and decreasing cropping intervals (0-4 years) on the yield and quality parameters of SB. However, evaluation of the yield stability of SB in diverse crop rotations has not been conducted in this context so far. For this reason, the yield for the last 13 years of the trial (2002 until 2014) was subjected to such an evaluation. Besides cropping interval and cropping concentration, the crop rotations investigated also differed in terms of the complementary crops cultivated (winter wheat, Triticum aestivum L.; alfalfa, Medicago ssp.; potato, Solanum tuberosum L. and grain maize, Zea mays L.). Both SB root yield and white sugar yield increased with an increasing cropping interval or decreasing cropping concentration of SB in the crop rotation. In addition, a positive effect on root yield and white sugar yield was seen when integrating alfalfa, while cultivating SB after SB displayed the lowest root yield and white sugar yield. Sugar content was lowest in SB monoculture. In order to assess stability of white sugar yield, the coefficient of variation and ecovalence were calculated, and a linear regression analysis of the individual crop rotations' annual yield was performed for the annual average of all crop rotations. When considering these three parameters, the crop rotations with a cropping interval of at least 2 years displayed higher yield stability, with simultaneously higher white sugar yield, than the crop rotations with a cropping interval of 0 and 1 year. By integrating alfalfa into the crop rotation, it was also possible to achieve above-average white sugar yield with high yield stability for a cropping interval of 1 year.