A Study of the Growth and Yield of Red-beet from a Long-term Manurial Experiment

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Abstract
During three years 1959–61 a study was made of the growth of the red-beet crops on a long-term manurial experiment in which significant increases in the yields of red-beet were produced by the applications of farmyard manure (FYM), and by nitrogenous fertilizer (N), but not by potassic or phosphatic fertilizers. On the average, the FYM increased the relative leaf and root growth-rates during the exponential phase of growth by 9 and 25 per cent respectively. Subsequently, from about 6 weeks after sowing until harvest at about 17 weeks, the corresponding rates were 14 and 12 per cent less on the FYM than on the no- FYM plots. The main effect of N was to sustain the relative growth-rate of the leaves, which between the age of 6 and 17 weeks was 13 per cent greater on the high-N plots. In an attempt to account for yearly and other differences in yield, a generalized form of the logistic equation was fitted to the leaf and root growth data using as time-scales age in days and three scales based on meteorological elements. The yearly differences in the growth curves were as great with the meteorological timescales as with the age scale, and they appeared to be related to yearly variations in plant density (plants per square foot) and rainfall. The values of two of the three logistic equation constants fitted to the root and leaf data were significantly greater for plants on the FYM and on the high-N plots than those on the no-FYM and low-N plots.