В Миннесоте подтвердили эффективность полосной обработки почвы для сахарной свеклы

Strip-tilling is becoming a more popular method of conservation for sugarbeet growers. Strip-till is a practice that tills narrow 7- to 10-inch seedbed bands while leaving the soil and residue between the rows undisturbed. Utilizing this practice helps to reduce wind erosion, while also lowering fuel and labor costs. ADVERTISEMENT “Reducing the disturbance within the soil is important to achieve that, especially for sugarbeets, as it’s one of the main crops in the Red River Valley,” said Murad Ellafi, post-doctorate research associate at the University of Minnesota. At the University of Minnesota, one of their projects looks at the impact of strip-till compared to conventional tillage. The study also includes cover crops to reduce erosion and improve soil health. “So we’re looking at how different practices, strip-till or conventional till, with and without cover crops, impact the nitrogen availability for sugarbeets during the growing season,” Ellafi said. “Sugarbeets is a very high demanding crop when it comes to nitrogen consumption, especially early during the growing season where sugarbeets require more nitrogen to help the leaf expansion and grow in that early period.” Ellafi said, according to studies within the Red River Valley, it was suggested that the period between 30 to 70 days after planting is the period where sugarbeets require the most nitrogen. Then, between 70 to 75 post planting, sugarbeets start to focus more on sugar accumulation to improve yield. “So at that period, ideally, we want to see less nitrogen available in the soil so then the sugarbeets will focus more on sugar accumulation instead of leaf expansion in that period during the growing season,” he said. “So that’s what we are doing. We are looking at how these management practices, including strip tillage and cover crops can help having more nitrogen available in the first period and reducing the availability of nitrogen later in the growing season.” The study is still ongoing and will cover three growing seasons and is utilizing a crop rotation. So far, they have data for 2024 and are still analyzing data from 2025. ADVERTISEMENT While the data is still preliminary, so far, Ellafi said they have found that strip-till did help reduce the nitrogen availability by 50% towards the end of the growing season when compared to conventional tillage. They are also analyzing soil disturbance with strip-till. “The less disturbance to the soil is better when it comes to reducing wind or even water erosion in the soil and also maintaining a more ideal and optimum soil temperature and moisture,” Ellafi said. Ellafi said they didn’t find any disadvantages when it comes to planting time while using strip-till. “We have a very short growing season, and farmers are using the conventional tillage to help get up to speed and start working on their farm, but from at least these three years having like trials with strip-till and conventional till, we didn’t see any disadvantages when it comes to implementing strip-till to delay the planting in our soil, and this is a positive,” he said. Yields were not significantly impacted between the two practices, according to the preliminary data. Ellafi said that shows that it provides the benefits of reducing erosion and mineral loss in the topsoil without negatively impacting producers' yields. The study is ongoing, and Ellafi said they hope to look at the strip-till impact several years down the road. ADVERTISEMENT “This is a great project to look forward to have growers within the Red River Valley to understand and what to expect after planning and starting using conservation practices,” Ellafi said.