EVALUATION OF SOME SUGAR BEET VARIETIES UNDER THREE HARVESTING DATES

Two field experiments were carried out at Tamiya, El-Fayoum Governorate during 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 seasons to evaluate yield, yield components and quality of six sugar beet varieties namely LP 11, Demapoly, LP 13 , Pleno , Kawemira and LP 12 under three harvesting dates (180, 195 and 210 days after sowing). Results revealed the superiority of Demaploy in root weight, root yield, sugar yield, sucrose % and purity % when it was harvested after 210 days from sowing in the two growing seasons. Harvesting dates and varieties had significant effects on all studied traits except root diameter. Interaction between harvest dates x varieties had insignificant effect on all studied traits in both seasons except for sucrose % and purity % in the 1 st season only. Under the conditions of this study, Demapoly is the proper variety for El-Fayoum Governorate environmental. In addition, use the characteristics of yield component which affected yields (root length, root diameter and root fresh weight/plant) as a morphological characteristics which affected root yield, besides high sucrose % and low reducing sugar % as tools can be used to evaluate and select sugar beet varieties for highly sugar production.