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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Nutrition
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1441226
This article is part of the Research Topic Application and Mechanism of Plant Biostimulants, Biochar, Fertilizer Products, and Other Nutrition-related Agrochemicals View all 25 articles

Slow-release boron fertilizer improves yield and nutritional profile of Beta vulgaris L. grown in Northeast China by increasing boron supply capacity

Provisionally accepted
Zhenzhen Wu Zhenzhen Wu 1Xiaoyu Zhao Xiaoyu Zhao 1Jean W. Yong Jean W. Yong 2*Shafaque Sehar Shafaque Sehar 3Muhammad Faheem Adil Muhammad Faheem Adil 3Muhammad Riaz Muhammad Riaz 4Krishan K. Verma Krishan K. Verma 5Meiyu Li Meiyu Li 1Jialu Huo Jialu Huo 1Songlin Yang Songlin Yang 1Baiquan Song Baiquan Song 1*
  • 1 Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China
  • 2 Department of Biosystems and Technogy, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 3 Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 4 Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
  • 5 Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Science, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The Northeastern part of China is a traditional sugar beet cultivation area where the soils are classified generally as the black and albic soil types with low boron (B) availability. Boron fertilizer can increase soil B content and significantly improve crop yield and quality. At present, the effects of slow-release B fertilizer on beet root yield and quality remained unclear. Two sugar beet varieties KWS1197 and KWS0143 were selected as the research materials; biologically evaluated with three dosage rates of 0, 15, and 30 kg ha -1 in two soil types. Results showed that slow-release B fertilizer 2 (30 kg ha -1 ) improved sugar beet net photosynthetic rate (13.6%) and transpiration rate (9.8%), as well as improving dry matter accumulation and the transfer to underground parts (23.1%) for higher root yield (1.4 to 9.7% in black soil and 3.5-14.2% in albic soil). Specifically, boron fertilizer greatly increased root B accumulation, as evidenced by decreasing amino N and Na contents alongside with increasing surose (Pol) content. Slow-release B fertilizer increased white sugar yield by 3.5 to 35.7% in black soil and 5.8 to 20.8 % in albic soil. In conclusion, applying slow-release B fertilizer is an effective strategy to increase sugar beet yield and quality in Northeast China, with a recommended application rate of 30 kg ha -1 . These findings established a baseline for formulating effective and futristic fertilizer for sugar beet.

    Keywords: yield, quality, novel fertilizer, Sugar beet, Black soil, Albic soil

    Received: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 31 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wu, Zhao, Yong, Sehar, Adil, Riaz, Verma, Li, Huo, Yang and Song. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jean W. Yong, Department of Biosystems and Technogy, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 75651, Uppsala, Sweden
    Baiquan Song, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.