BBRO Research

Reducing the amount of fertiliser used on the sugar beet crop is the first stage of reducing emissions. The second stage is to change the fertiliser product bei...

Nitrogen fertiliser is the one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on farm from the sugar beet crop. Calculations from a report commissione...

A multi-faceted project to investigate how to optimise practices to maximise soil health.

With an industry target to reach net zero in agriculture by 2040 it is imperative that emissions are quantified and addressed on farm. Currently this is driven ...

On average 59% of the fields in which sugar beet is grown consist of soil which is classified as sand based (loamy sand, sand, sandy clay loam, sandy loam, sand...

BBRO protocol for evaluating new seed treatments, priming technologies and/or pellet types for the UK

This project is focusing on sugar beet radiation use efficiency (RUE) which is examining radiation (sunlight) interception by the canopy and measuring its resul...

BBRO are pleased to support this large industry collaboration on soil biology and health.

The Recommended List Trials Programme involves approx.17 sites, of which up to 13 are taken for yield assessments. The programme includes trials for disease ass...

There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that some UK high yielding sugar beet crops grown under modern conditions may benefit from higher than recommended p...

Interpreting and managing the spatial heterogeneity in sugar beet yields by long-term monitoring of crops. INSPiRE (Interpreting & managing spatial performance...

Freezing temperatures can damage sugar beet roots, often leading to losses in sugar and causing problems during processing . Better understanding of the environ...

The fertiliser recommendations for sugar beet as laid out by DEFRA in RB209 assume a yield of 60t/ha. Whilst there is no evidence that higher yielding crops req...

A number of approaches to ensure developing seedling receive optimum nutrition are practiced across a range of other crops. This includes: seed-applied nutritio...

Awaiting report

Investigation into the relationship between variety canopy growth characteristics and the yield performance of sugar beet varieties at different harvest dates a...

Average losses in clamp are approximately 0.1% of total sugar volume per day (BBRO, 2016). These losses are a consequence of many factors including harvesting ...

The use of chaser bins (also known as transfer wagons) are not an entirely new concept and have been used widely in Australia and North America transferring gra...

The harvester testing program has highlighted instances of both good and bad whole beet losses through cleaner loaders (often the same make/model) highlighting ...

Work done in the 1900s (SBREC) demonstrated that drilling beet on a 30x30cm grid delivered increased sugar yields of 4-5%. The challenge of precision drilling ...

Awaiting report

Since the mid 1990s, the average concentration of amino-N in beet delivered to British Sugar factories has decreased progressively from around 160 to 70mg/100g/...

The aim of this project was to provide growers with a tool to analyse their past performance so that they can separate the effects of differences between season...

Weed beet is an increasing problem in the UK, and current methods to keep populations in check are laborious, expensive, and often ineffective. If the productio...

The crown tares of delivered beet have large financial implications for both grower and processor. Their lower concentrations of sugar and higher concentration...

Insufficient moisture during summer months limits UK sugar beet production more than any other single factor. Compared with potential production without stress,...

The BBRO vernalization-intensity bolting model for sugar beet - initially reported in the final report of an earlier BBRO Project and published in its final ve...

The experimental (field) data on the response of sugar beet to irrigation in England was reviewed. The literature mostly dates from the 1970s and 1980s and show...

A crucial part of the year for birds is winter, when resources are low, and survival difficult. Inclusion of a spring-sown crop such as sugar beet, predominantl...

To evaluate the yield gains that could be obtained in commercial sugar beet defoliation systems.

Aim: to understand the genetic basis of variation in sugar beet cell wall composition.

Temperatures during the 2010/11 campaign caused significant levels of frost damage to beet still in the ground, resulting in major financial losses to growers a...

In 2006, 27 genotypes were tested under irrigated and managed drought conditions using the polytunnel system. These genotypes consisted of six ‘core’ hybrids th...

Effects of increased input costs on crop profitability

The project used beet and soil sampled by British Sugar staff from individual fields prior to the 2005-06 processing campaign to validate the use of factory tar...

In England, sugar beet must compete with wheat and oilseed-rape for a place in the arable rotation. At today’s prices for wheat (c. £160/t) and beet (c. £26/t)...

This project aims to maximise the potential economic, agronomic and ecological benefits from cover crops through a better understanding of species effects and c...

The UK sugar-beet industry needs to improve the cost-effectiveness of sugar production if it is to remain competitive within the new EU Sugar Regime. This may r...

This evaluation tested seven drills at two speeds and on two soil types. Drill performance was measured by uniformity of seed spacing. There was variability in ...

The project will re-evaluate sugar losses during storage to take account of modern 'whole beet' recovery practices and the increasing use of A-shaped storage cl...

Landfill is becoming increasingly expensive. This project assessed the impact of the use of paper pulp on sugar beet .

This project will show whether, by placing N, can we improve N uptake efficiency and improve the performance of crops and to what extent it may be possible to r...

In a two-year project conducted by British Sugar plc, clamps were constructed at two sites, using beet grown on a sandy loam and clay loam soils. Storage loss...

Assessment of the impact of increased plant populations and N rates on high-fertility soils

The objective to this proposed project is to produce a review to better understand how strip tillage is currently being used in sugar beet in the United Kingdom...

To design, develop and provide a commercial alternative system that allows sugar beet clamps to be covered for protection against frost and uncovered after a fr...

Strip tillage is a non-inversion technique that has been widely adopted in some areas of the United States for growing row crops e.g. maize and sugar beet. This...

The last experiments on the effects of plant population density on the performance of UK sugar-beet crops on which much of our current advice is based were done...

Work on other arable crops such as OSR and cereals has shown that crops frequently respond to additional sulphur fertilisers, especially on lighter land where t...

The UK sugar-beet industry has largely achieved its objective of increasing national average yields to 70 t/ha. The opportunities offered by recovering and proc...

Large quantities of soil adhering to beet are delivered to factories during the campaign at considerable cost to the industry in transportation, removal and dis...

The project is investigating the effect of autumn/winter cover crops on the physical structure of soil before and throughout the sugar beet crop and how this ma...

On average, 10% of sugar beet yield is lost to drought in the UK. In field surveys are being used to identify constraints to rooting at depth, which limits wate...

Like nitrogen, sulphur is an essential ingredient in proteins, and what little evidence there is suggests that healthy beet crops should contain 25-35 kg/ha (Ho...

This project examined the efficacy of synchronised application of a nematicide granule compared to a continuous band application at drilling for the control of...

This project examined bird use of sugar beet crops in summer and autumn. Foraging and breeding behaviour, along with data on plant food and vegetation composit...

This project focuses on water use efficiency (WUE) in sugar beet, which examines the plant’s water use and the associated yields achieved. Sugar beet is often o...

To understand the key genetic factors influencing the composition and development of the cell wall in sugar beet roots.

It has been long known that sugar beet does not yield well under drought conditions. In the UK there is a 10% yield loss as a result of drought on average and i...

The EU proposes that a significant proportion of transport fuel shall come from renewable resources.