Economic sciences / 12. The economy of agriculture

Doctor of Science in Agriculture Ionitsoy Yu.S.

Institute of Bioenergy Crops and Sugar Beet NAAS of Ukraine

Ionitsoy Y. Yu.

Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman

Economic and energy efficiency of sugar beet depending on crop density and lifting terms

Annotation. The article gives an assessment of the economic and energy efficiency of sugar beet hybrids of different breeding origin, depending on the plantation density and the timing of harvesting. It was found that the best indicator of economic and energy efficiency was the hybrid of joint selection of KV Yaltushkov with a planting density of 120 thousand pieces/ha and the third harvesting period (profitability 51,3%, REE – 3,26). Reducing the density of the plantation to 80 and 60 thousand pieces/ha leads to a decrease in profitability and of the coefficient of energy efficiency.

Key words: sugar beet, hybrids, economic efficiency, energy, density of plantation, terms of harvesting.

Introduction. One of the main factor of profitable production is its economic efficiency, which reflects the economic system`s efficiency, resulting in the ratio of the instrumental net results of its functioning to the resources used. The problem solving of increasing the sugar beet cultivation`s efficiency was carried out by the scientists of V.S. Bondar, V.I. Pyrkin, P.P. Borshchevsky, O.S. Zaets, O.M. Varchenko and others. Beet sugar production is a seasonal industry, which creates a certain specificity of the technological process. The growing season length`s increasing is economically advantageous as it have an impact on sugar recovery and leads to a reduction of its cost [1]. Therefore, research for the study of rise in profitability of sugar beet cultivation due to optimization of lifting terms and increasing of the yield are relevant.

The key performance indicators of the crops are the yield value of fodder units and the stored energy in dry matter per hectare. These indicators can take a correct view of the ability of a unit of area to realize through production both the potentialities of the culture and the efficiency of crop farming. The problem of low energy efficiency of the sugar beet industry caused by the high expenditure level of resource and energy. Therefore, the issues of the energy efficiency improvement of sugar beet production are getting possession of a special relevance. The key advantage of the energy estimation is the ability to show all the components of agricultural industry in the unital constants over a particular period of time, as opposed to the cost parameters that are changing because of the inflation tendencies [2, 3, 4].

Sugar beet`s crop density has always been in the spot of national and foreign science and practice. The more the sugar beet crops are thinned out, the less the biological potential of the hybrids productivity is used, planting width are joined later, the weed infestation of crops and the quantity of hollow roots are increasing, their sucrose percentage and technological qualities are going down, resulting in reduction in yields. Undoubtedly, for each hybrid, depending on the biological potential and genetic traits, the best possible crop density will be one of the factors that maximally affect its productivity. That is why the purpose of the conducted studies is to determine the economic and energy efficiency of sugar beet hybrids of different breeding origins with different crop density and lifting terms.

Materials and methods of research. The investigations were helding at the Verkhnyachka experimental-selection station, that is located at the unstable humidification zone of the Khristinovska district of the Cherkassy region, Ukraine. The agrotechnical conditions for carrying out the experiments corresponded to the generally accepted technology of sugar beet growing for this zone. The dropping was carried out as soon as is practicable (the third decade of April) using a serial drill. In the phase of two pairs of real leaves, manually formed the crop density - 60, 80, 100 and 120 thousand plants per hectare. Sugar beet`s lifting was carried out in three terms: I - 10-20 September; II - 01-05 October; III - 15-25 October. The size of the quadrat was 30 m². The replication of the experiments is fourfold.

The object of the research was sugar beet of the following hybrids: Ukrainian ChS 70 (selection of the branch of The Sugar Beet Institute), Extra (selection of the company "KVS ZAAT AG" Germany), KV Yaltushkov (selection of the company "KVS ZAAT AG" and Yaltushkovskaya experimentally plant-breeding station of The Sugar Beet Institute).

To determine the economic efficiency, the "Methodology guidelines for determining the crops cultivation assessment under intensive technologies" were used, according to the methodology of O.K. Medvedovsky and P.I. Ivanenka [5]. The average purchase price for sugar beet roots was adjusted according to the conversion rates for the sucrose percentage in fact.

When determining the energy efficiency of the crop, the standard methods were used using the computer program for determining energy costs and energy balance developed by the NSC "Institute of Farming of the NAAN", 2008. The ratio of energy efficiency (REE) was taken as the basis of the energy estimation, which reflects the ratio of the energy intensity of the crop to technological expenditure of energy.

Results of investigation. It was in studies revealing that the choice of a hybrid, the density of planting and harvest time influence on the level of profitability of growing sugar beets. The maximum profitability in the experiments was provided by the Yaltushkov KV hybrid. In addition to the above, during the first harvesting period was minimal profitability and at a density of 80-100 thousand pieces/ha was 38,4-42,1%. The vegetation spreading for two weeks acted to raise the profitability in all variants on 7,6-11,8%. At both lifting terms, the maximum profitability of the Yaltushkov KV hybrid was at the density of 80 thousand pieces/ha: at the first term – 42,1%, the second firm – 53,9%. The economic efficiency of cultivating the Extra hybrid at a density of planting 60, 80 and 120 thousand pieces/ha are assented to the Yavtushkov KV hybrid on 8,9-17,9% for all periods of harvesting. On the variant with a density of 100 thousand pieces/ha, the difference between the profitability of growing these hybrids was 0,6-7,1%. Maximum profitability of the Extra hybrid was characterized by a variant with a density of 100 thousand pieces per hectare at the second lifting period. Hybrid Ukrainian ChS 70 was inferior in profitability to the hybrid Yablushkov KV on 26,6-34,5% in all variants of the density of planting and lifting time. At the same time, the maximum of its profitability in the experience practice did not exceed 21,1% (table 1).

Table 1. Influence of the plantation density and the timing of harvesting on the energy efficiency of sugar beet hybrids of different breeding origin

Density of the plantation, thousand pieces/ha	Profitability, %			Energy intensity of harvest, GJ			Energy costs, GJ			REE
	Time for harvesting
	I	II	III	I	II	III	I	II	III	I	II	III
Ukrainian ChS 70
120	5,8	16,0	17,5	212,37	230,69	239,85	68,73	73,47	76,14	3,09	3,14	3,15
100	9,5	21,1	14,0	216,14	235,00	231,23	75,05	80,48	79,46	2,88	2,92	2,91
80	10,5	19,8	12,3	228,53	236,62	238,77	81,33	83,91	84,67	2,81	2,82	2,82
60	4,6	14,4	10,4	222,61	234,46	235,54	79,79	83,44	83,53	2,79	2,81	2,82
Extra
120	30,0	33,9	38,8	260,87	273,27	293,22	81,78	85,13	90,50	3,19	3,21	3,24
100	31,3	46,4	41,6	265,72	279,20	292,13	89,77	93,69	97,38	2,96	2,98	3,00
80	31,5	43,4	28,6	266,81	280,81	275,97	93,29	97,51	96,16	2,86	2,88	2,87
60	24,6	30,2	21,0	260,33	272,19	270,58	91,35	94,84	94,28	2,85	2,87	2,87
KV Yaltushkov
120	38,9	50,5	51,3	271,65	289,44	300,76	84,63	89,33	92,26	3,21	3,24	3,26
100	38,4	47,0	47,1	273,27	280,28	290,52	91,70	94,05	96,84	2,98	2,98	3,00
80	42,1	53,9	42,2	275,96	293,75	283,51	96,16	101,64	98,44	2,87	2,89	2,88
60	33,4	41,0	38,9	271,11	281,35	287,28	94,47	97,69	99,75	2,87	2,88	2,88

Note: the harvesting period: I - 10-20 September; ІІ - 01-05 October; ІІІ - 15 October

Researches have established that the timing of harvesting and the density of sugar beet plantation significantly affect the level of economic and energy efficiency of hybrids of different breeding origin. Under the circumstances of the Verkhnyachka experimental-selection station, the hybrid KV Yaltushkov was characterized by the best indicators. Depending on the density of the plantation (60-120 thousand pieces per hectare), at the first harvesting time, it ensured the energy intensity of the crop at the level of 271,11-275,96 GJ, while the Extra hybrid - 260,33-266,81 GJ, and hybrid Ukrainian ChS 70 – 212,37-228,53 GJ (see table 1).

When extending the vegetation period by transferring the harvesting schedule for October (II and III terms), all the hybrids responded by increasing the energy intensity of the crop. So, with a plantation density of 120 thousand pieces/ha, the energy intensity increased during the second and third periods of harvesting in the hybrid Ukrainian ChS 70 by 8,7 and 12,9%, Extra – 4,7 and 12,4%, KV Yaltushkov - 6,5-10,7% compared to the first harvesting period. The same tendency can be traced in other variants of planting density. The highest energy intensity of the sugar beet crop was obtained at the third harvesting period.

As for the hybrid KV Yaltushkov, depending on the plantation density, it was within 283,51-300,76 GJ. It should be noted that the plantation density affected the energy intensity of the harvest to a lesser extent than the harvesting time, except the Extra hybrid. This hybrid had a decrease in energy intensity during the third harvesting period in variants with a planting density of 80 thousand pieces/ha by 6,2%, 60 thousand pieces/ha by 8,3% compared to the density of 120 thousand plants per hectare.

Energy costs for the growing sugar beet technology did not differ significantly among hybrids, although there is a clear tendency to grow with decreasing plantation density at all times of harvesting. Thus, the hybrid Ukrainian ChS 70 energy consumption at the plantation density of 120 thousand pieces/ha varying depending on the harvesting time from 68,73 to 76,14 GJ, while at the density of 60 thousand pieces/ha 79,79-83,53 GJ. As for the hybrid Extra and KV Yaltushkov, the energy consumption at a plantation density of 120 thousand pieces/ha was 81,78-90,50 and 84,63-92,26 GJ, while at the density of 60 thousand pieces/ha 91,35-94,84 and 94,47-99,75 GJ, respectively.

Studies have established that in the conditions of the Verhnyachka experimental-selection station, the ratio of energy efficiency for various sugar beet hybrids was higher at a density of 120 thousand pieces/ha during the second and third periods of harvesting. So, the hybrid KV Yaltushkov had the maximum REE: 3,26 at the third harvesting time, 3,24 - the second, 3,21 - the first. The hybrid Extra was inferior to it in terms of REE: 3,24; 3,21 and 3,19 for the third, second and first harvesting periods, respectively. When decreasing the plantation density up to 100 thousand pieces/ha, the ratio of energy efficiency in all hybrids decreased to 2,88-3,00, and as for variants with a density of 60 and 80 thousand pieces/ha it was within 2,79-2,89 and almost did not differ in terms of harvesting time (see table 1).

The hybrid Extra was inferior to the hybrid KV Yablushkov as for the coefficient of energy efficiency, but according to the intervals of acceptable values for sugar beet according by A.V. Kalinichenko [6], in variants with a density of 100 thousand pieces/ha and less was average (2,85-3,00), and at a density of 120 thousand pieces/ha - above the average (3,19-3,24). The minimum indicators of the REE in the experiment were noted in the hybrid Ukrainian ChS 70. At a density of 120 thousand plant/ha, it varied from 3,09 at the first harvesting time to 3,15 - at the third harvesting period, which is above the average. With a plantation density of 100 thousand plant/ha, the level of the REE decreased to an average and was within 2,88-2,92, depending on the time of harvest. Reducing the plantation density led to a decrease in the energy intensity of the crop and the ratio of energy efficiency to 2,79-2,82.

Conclusions. In conditions of unstable hydration, a significant growth of the economic efficiency of the energy intensity of sugar beet harvests of different breeding origins hybrids is observed during harvesting on 01-05 October and 15-25 October compared to harvesting in September 10-20. The hybrid of KV Yaltushkov joint selection of prevailed in all variants of plantation density and harvesting terms and ensured the profitability and energy intensity of the harvest at the level of 51,3% and 300,76 GJ, respectively. The ratio of energy efficiency, depending on the hybrids and the time of harvesting, was higher at a density of 120,000 plant/ha, where it was 3,09-3,26. The best indicators of energy efficiency were the KV Yaltushkov hybrid at the plantation density of 120 thousand pieces/ha, where the maximum REE in the experiment (3,26) was recorded at the third harvesting period.

In production conditions, the increase in the vegetative period of sugar beet plants with a density of standing of 100-120 thousand pieces per hectare during the harvesting period provides an increase in the sugar yield from a unit of area, and so respectively, and a higher level of profitability.

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