Alternative Soil Tillage Methods in the Sugar Beet Cultivation

In this study, it has been compared 9 different soil tillage methods to take into consideration of agricultural techniques and farmer applications in order to determine the optimum soil tillage method for Central Anatolian Region where sugar beet is mostly sowed in Turkey. The soil was ploughed coarsely in autumn in the first six methods, with base fertilizers applied before the final treatment in autumn and sowed in spring after seedbed preparation. No operations were made for the remaining three methods during autumn. In these methods soil preparations and sowing were made when weathering was sufficient in spring. These soil tillage methods were compared in terms of soil physical properties, yield, quality, cost and income. Consequently, among the tested tillage methods, Y7 method gave the highest yield as 66 t ha^-1 and income as 2441 $ ha^-1. Besides that, Y3, Y4 and Y5 methods were also found to be significant methods in terms of yield and net income.