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Nazmi Oruç, Halil Güngör TEMA, Akcami Mah. Kurşunlu Cami Sok. No: 1 Odunpazarı, Eskişehir ABSTRACT The amount of soil delivered to the sugar factories is a major problem in beet growing countries. Analysis of the data obtained from the General Directorate of Turkish Sugar Industry indicated that the amount of soil carried away from the beet fields was a very important issue in Turkey. As an average of last ten years ( 1989 - 1999 ) the percentages of soil tares were estimated as 10.24% and 11.20% of the gross-weight of the sugar beet harvested in Turkey and Eskişehir, respectively. This means that approximately 1500000 tons of soil in Turkey and 154000 tons of soil in Eskişehir were transported from the beet fields annualy. The high amount of soil delivered to the sugar factories and weighing sites not only causes a kind of Land Degradation (Soil Erosion ) but also increases the cost of handling and consequently white - sugar prices, on the other hand, the adhering soil is very rich in organic matter content as well in major plant nutrients. Fifteen adhering soil samples were collected from five different beet delivery sites in Eskişehir in Nov. 1999, soil analysis showed that about 4200 tons of organic matter, 416 tons of total N, 16.1 tons of available P (P2O5) and 30.8 tons of extractable K (K2O) were carried away in 154000 tons of transported soil from the beet fields in Eskişehir. From the economical and ecological points of view the transport of soil from the beet fields should be minimized by using improved methods of cultivation, mechanization and plant breeding and also sugar beet growers should be englightened about the importance of soil tare reduction in beet growing. INTRODUCTION Both sugar beet production (indispensable rotational crop in Central Anatolia) and sugar industry have a very significant role in Turkey's agriculture and agro-industry regarding to technological, economical and social development of rural population. Sugar beet growing area is around 360000 hectares and about 12300000 tons of sugar beet is yearly processed by 27 sugar factories in Turkey. There is about 32000 hectares of sugar beet growing area in Eskişehir. And during the campaigns of last decade, around 1500000 tons of beet have been processed by one of the oldest sugar factories established at Eskişehir in 1993 yearly. (Tarım Raporu, 1998) Generally, in sugar beets considerable yield losses and costs occur during and after lifting the crop. The yield losses consist of root losses and sugar losses. The main costs caused at delivery of the beets to the sugar factory are brought about by the amount of tare. Apart from stones, weeds etc., it consists of top tare and dirt (soil) tare. According to the contract signed between the beet growers and Turkish Sugar Company, a regular 5% deduction is applied for the top tare by the company on the total weight of the beet delivered to the weighing sites. Amount of the soil tare is visually evaluated by the company experts at delivery sites. For determining the actual soil tare on disputed cases, randomly choosen beet samples ( about 10 kg ) are weighed before and after cleaning of the sampled beets. In order to determine the efficiency of a cleaning machine ( Armer Salmon HI - VOL ) a series of tests were carried out at Ankara Sugar Factory in 19992. Reduction of soil tare varied from 34% to 86% depending on the weather conditions during the beet harvest time. It was reported that efficiency of cleaning machinery decreased from 57% to 34% due to the 13 mm. of rainfall received before the beet harvesting day (Sevilmiş, 1992). Kangal (1996) reported in his M. Sci. thesis titled as "Determining the Mechanical Cleaning Efficiency of Sugar Beet Loading Unloading and Cleaning Machines", that the cleaning efficiency of machines were approximately 62.67%, the beet surface damage area was about 4.99 cm2 and the machines increased the root breakage and caused the cracks on the beet surface. It was reported by Van der Linden (1996) that the amount of soil delivered to sugar beet factories was a major problem in the Nederlands and as an average year, the percentage of soil tare varied from 5 to 15% of the gross weight of the sugar beet, representing the amount of 800.000 tons of soil coming from 115000 hectares of beet growing area. The estimated costs of handling were Dfl. 46000000. Beet growers paid 50% of the costs directly, the other was settled in the beet price. Lifting principles without pressing soil to the beet dramatically reduced the amount of adhering soil just behind the lifter. In this research cleaning systems such as compressed air, brushes, stars and axial rollers were compared with conventional systems such as turbines and angers. The different systems resulted in a reduction of 50% of the soil tare on clay soils, on sandy soils the reduction was 80%. Koch (1996) indicated that 2-4 million tons of soil were transported from 500000 hectares of sugar beet (4-8 tons/h), yearly in Germany. In order to quantify the effects of several agronomical practices on soil tare of sugar beet, data of various field trials were evaluated by Koch. Contemporarily growing low tare varieties could reduce soil transported to sugar factories up to 20% (relative). An even higher reduction was to be reached by mechanical cleaning ( up to 60%). Tillage and N- fertilizer supply only showed a small potential to lessen soil tare. Against this, raising plant densities leaded to increasing soil tare (+3.6% rel. / 10000pl.) It was noticed that the unification of Germany was an overriding theme in the 1990 campaign. And average soil tare was fairly low at 13.93%, but since the lowest value was 9.25%, there was scope for further improvement ( Bucholz and Schliephake, 1991). Günther (1996) indicating high costs in the sugar factories because of the soil delivered along with sugar beet, carried a research on cleaning off dirt tare in advance by covering the beet clamps to ensure good drying, thereby improving cleaning. The average cleaning results of the exact tests 1988 - 95 showed a degree of cleaning of about 37% with uncovered clamps, as opposed to 57% with covered clamps, with films of polythene or polypropylene. The study titled as " Different ways to reduce soil tare in sugar beet production - ongoing work in France " was summarized by Guiraud and Leveque (1996). They explained that tare depended on numbers of factors which could be partially or fully controlled during the very first stages of growing. It was particularly at the time of harvesting that means of action were possible. Some factors increased or decreased the tare in overall manner, by adding or removing a more or less significant number of tare < points> depending on their importance: climate, soil type, soil moisture, leaf stripping, placing of the clamp. Other factors were instrumental by causing a constant variation of the dirt tare removed, more or less irrespective of conditions: yield populations, varieties, distance between rows, lifting devices, length of the cleaning circuit, pick - up depth, advanced speed, turbine rotation speed, clamp cleaning." In his paper on the breeding for improved root shape to reduce dirt tare, Brussaard (1996) argued that plant breeding could contribute considerably by modifying the traditional morphology of the sugar beet root to reduce top tare and dirt tare in addition to improved methods of cultivation and mechanization. He noticed that all sugar beet varieties had a conical root shape up till now. However it was thought that beets with a globe - shaped or oval root groves, unbranched, with narrow crown and with a smooth skin could decrease the losses and costs considerably. Although still too low in sugar content and juice purity, the "tare - unfriendly sugar beet" was a great potential for further reduction of the amount of dirt tare and consequently a great potential for further reduction of production and processing costs. This study is aimed to indicate the importance of soil tare and plant nutrient losses in sugar beet harvesting in Turkey and in Eskişehir. It was considered that these discussions may be useful for sugar factories, farmers and environmentalists in the context of sustainable growth. MATERIALS AND METHODS The amounts of soil tare were calculated from the data of General Directorate of Turkish Sugar Industry. The compiled data included the figures of last ten years (1988-1998) about the sugar beet grown area, number of growers, yields delivered to the weighing-machine sites, yields paid by the sugar company, sugar beets processed by the factories and also sugar content and juice purity for the 27 different sugar factories throughout Turkey. The difference between the amount of beet delivered at that weighing sites by the growers and the amount of the beet processed by the sugar factories minus 5% regular deduction for the top tare was considered as Soil Tare. The figures used in this paper for Turkey and Eskişehir Province are the average values for the last ten years. Fifteen adhering soil samples were colected from five different sugar beet delivery sites (3 samples from each) in Eskişehir on Nov.,1999. Conventional methods were used for the analysis of the total organic matter. (Walkey Black), total N (Micro Kjeldahl), available P (Olsen Method) and extractable K (IN, pH=7 NH4OAC) levels of the soils. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The amount of soil delivered to beet weighing sites and sugar factories is a major concern in most of the sugar beet growing countries and Turkey. Results from the analysis of the data obtained from the Sugar Industry of Turkey are given in Table 1.  The percentages of soil tare and soil losses in Turkey are somewhat lower than these in Germany and in the Netherlands. Since weather conditions are much more rainy in Western Europe than in Turkey during the lifting period of beet. So, much less adhering soil of sugar beet is expected in arid Turkey, when compared to other rainy European countries in the fall. Urgently, detailed research is needed to clarify the every aspects of factors causing high soil tare in sugar beet lifting and beet transportation to the factories inTurkey. Chemical analysis results of the adhering soil samples are given in Table 2.  As it is easily seen in the Table 2. The adhering soils removed from the surface layer of beet fields are not only rich in organic matter content, but also contain appreciable amounts of essential plant nutrients such as N-P-K. So higher amounts of adhering soil cause higher losses of organic matter and plant nutrient in addition to increasing the transportation costs of beet. Beside this, most inavoidable aspect is soil erosion that results in a Unrecognized Land Degradation as year go on. From the stand point of sustainable agriculture the transport of soil should be minimized. Hence the farmers have to be convinced and englightened on this vital issue, beside the use of improved methods of cultivation and mechanization in Turkey. Acknowledgment : We wish to thank the General Directorate of Turkish Sugar Factories in Ankara and Sugar Factory in Eskişehir for supporting the data, and also the Instute of Forestry Soil Laboratory of Eskişehir for the soil analysis. REFERENCES Buchholz, K, Schliephake, D. (1991) Zuckerindustrie, 1991, 116:5, 403-420 Guiraud, D., Leveque, E. (1996) Different Ways to reduce Soil Tare in Sugar Beet Production-Ongoing Work in France, Proceeedings of the 59th IIRB Congress, February 1996, P. 469-481 Günther, I. (1996) Intermediate Storage and Pre-Cleaning of Sugar Beets as a means of Reducing Dirt Tare. Proceedings of the 59th IIRB Congress, February 1996, P. 507-512 Kangal, A., (1998) Pancar Boşaltma-Temizleme ve Yükleme Makinalarının Mekanik Temizleme Etkinliğinin Belirlenmesi, Yüksek Lisan Tezi Ankara Üni. Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü. Ankara. Koch, H. J, (1996) Possibilities and Limits for Reducing Soil Tare of Sugar Beet through Tillage, Population Density, N-Fertilizer Supply, Variety and Cleaning. Proceedings of the 59th IIRB Congress, February, 1996 p. 483-497 Sevilmiş, A.H, (1992) Armer Salmon HI-VOL Pancar Temizleme Makinasının Temizleme Etkinliği ve Temizleme Maliyetinin Tespit Edilmesi Çalışması. Şeker Enstitüsü, Tarımsal Mekanizasyon Şubesi, Ankara. Tarım Raporu (1998), Türkiye Şeker Fabrikaları A.Ş. Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara, 58 sahife. Van Der Linden, J.P. (1996) Reducing Soil Tare of Sugar Beet with 'Novel' Cleaning Technology. External Quality Proceedings of the 59th IIRB Congress, February 1996 P. 499-505 |