Responses of sugar beet to sulphur fertilizer in England

SUMMARY Six field experiments were carried out in eastern England between 2003 and 2005 to test the effect of sulphur (S) fertilizer on the yield of sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris L.). The experiments were undertaken at sites where there had previously been a positive response to S in other crops or where no S-containing materials had been applied for more than 20 years. No individual experiment produced a significant positive response to S application, but the treatments that received no S fertilizer produced the smallest yield in five of the six experiments. Analysis across years using restricted maximum likelihood (REML) procedures showed that there was a positive and significant sugar yield response in beet of 0·56 t/ha where positive responses had previously been recorded in other crops grown on these loamy sand soils. Beet crops grown in soils of this type should receive S fertilizer that can be applied conveniently as sufficient ammonium sulphate to supply the first dressing of N.