Fodder beet is an extremely useful vegetable used for feeding animals. It is of the greatest value for dairy cattle, being a wonderful means of increasing milk yield in cows and goats.
In the winter season, when the diet of animals consists mainly of canned and dry feed, beet root crops are able to fill the need for trace elements and vitamins. In summer, in addition to root crops, tops are also eaten.
Fodder beet is an extremely he althy vegetable, which contains a huge amount of pectin and minerals, vitamins and easily digestible carbohydrates. This is a biennial plant, the fruits of which can reach 15 kg.
A bit of history
Fodder beet, along with table beet and sugar beet, originated from wild beets that grew in North Asia and the Far East. Initially, this culture was not divided into subspecies, and therefore there was only one name - beets. The history of the appearance of a fodder variety as an independent agricultural culture has its roots in the 16th century, in Germany.
German peasants at that time noticed that if you feed a cowbeets, then her milk yield increases significantly, and the milk itself becomes much tastier. It is this time period that is usually associated with the emergence of such a crop as fodder beet. Soon, specialists began to study this phenomenon. And since the beginning of the 18th century, fodder beets have flooded all European countries.
Fodder beet varieties
Beet roots grow in a variety of colors, shapes and degrees of immersion in the ground. Depending on the specified parameters, fodder beet is divided into the following varieties:
- The conical shape of the vegetable, in which up to 80% of the length of the roots is underground (beet Uman semi-sugar, Poltava semi-sugar);
- Elongated-oval shape of a vegetable when 50-70% of its length is in the soil (Winner);
- Cylindrical shape of a vegetable, when underground is from 25 to 40% of the length (Ekkendor yellow beet, Poltava white beet);
- The rounded shape of the vegetable, in which most of the root crop is on the surface.
The stronger and better developed the aerial part of the root, the more easily the vegetable tolerates drought. The most popular fodder beet varieties are: Eckendorf Yellow, Centaur Poli, Oberndorf Red.
Features of crop rotation
In fodder crop rotations, the best predecessors of fodder beet are cereal-bean mixtures, corn for silage, melons and gourds. In field rotations, it is recommended to plant beets in the place where annual legumes, row crops and winter grains were previously located.
As practice shows, the best fodder beet yields were obtained when rye, wheat, peas, corn and vegetables were located in the place of this crop last year. It is impossible to place fodder beets after various perennial grasses. It is allowed to return this crop to the previous field no earlier than after 3 years.
Getting seeds
Beets are among those plants from which seeds can be obtained no earlier than the 2nd year of cultivation. In the first year, it forms tops and roots, and the next year, when planting a vegetable, you can get fodder beet seeds suitable for growing plants.
It is very important that the roots that will be used for seeds are firm and he althy. When the beet stalk begins to dry out, the vegetable is dug up and then hung in a dry place protected from the wind. Under such conditions, beets should be kept until the stem of the plant is completely dry. After that, the seeds should be picked and dried in a small paper bag.
Soil preparation
Cultivation of fodder beet is a rather complicated process that requires certain knowledge and skills. So, it is important to know that growing this vegetable on sandy, marshy and clay soils will not bring positive results. Stony soils are also unsuitable for the growth of root crops.
Favorable for obtaining a good harvest of fodder beets are considered to be lands with a slightly acidic, neutral reaction and slightly saline soils. Ideally, this vegetable is planted in floodplain areas and richchernozems.
The plant is very demanding on the fertility of the land, and therefore it is impossible to do without preliminary improvement of the soil. Only with timely preparation of the land can one count on the appearance of friendly seedlings. So, fodder beet, the cultivation of which is familiar to many farmers, needs soil preparation at the initial stage of planting.
It is necessary to clear the area overgrown with weeds and free it for seedbed preparation. The weeding method will help to get rid of infestation with dicotyledonous annuals (quinoa, chicken millet, amaranth) and cereal weeds. You can free the site from perennials such as wheatgrass or thistle with the help of autumn treatment with continuous herbicides (Roundup, Buran, Hurricane).
Fertilization
For autumn digging, it is necessary to apply compost or mature organic fertilizer to the site at the rate of 35 tons per 1 ha. Wood ash is also an excellent fertilizer, which is applied in the amount of 5 centners per 1 ha.
Before planting, it is necessary to plow the areas with the application of nitroammophoska. Also, the culture needs phosphorus and potash fertilizers. After all the manipulations done, the soil should be loose, finely cloddy and slightly moist.
Planting fodder beets
The growing season of fodder beet varies from 125 to 150 days, and therefore planting begins in the spring, from the last days of March until mid-April. It is recommended to sow this vegetable when the soil is at a depth12 cm has already warmed up to 5-7 degrees.
Before planting, the seeds should be treated with a disinfectant. So, for example, you can keep them for half an hour in a saturated solution of manganese. To achieve the most optimal seedling density, their additional treatment with growth stimulants will help. At the same time, it is important not to forget that the seed after wet procedures must be dried a little.
On the prepared site, it is required to make grooves with row spacing of approximately 60 cm. The crop should be sown to a depth of 3 cm, and 14-15 seeds should fall on average per linear meter (approximately 150 g of seeds will be needed per hundred square meters of land).
The beds should be sprinkled with earth and wait for the first shoots. If the ground is dry, then it will not be superfluous to compact it with a smooth roller. This is necessary so that moisture from the deep layers can be drawn closer to the surface. At a temperature of 8 degrees, on average, sprouts will appear after 12 days, but if the temperature is more than 15 degrees, after 4 days.
Features of care
Fodder beet, the cultivation of which is a real art, develops quite slowly in the first month after germination. Of great importance during this period is the thinning procedure, which should be carried out after the growth of several true leaves. So, on a linear meter there should be no more than 5 sprouts, the distance between which is at least 25 cm.
Simultaneously with watering recommendedfeed the sprouts with ammonium nitrate, based on the following proportion: 12 g per 1 linear meter. After 2 weeks, another top dressing with mineral fertilizer should be carried out.
Fodder beet is quite moisture-loving, and therefore watering has the most direct impact on the size of the emerging root crop and, as a result, on the entire yield indicator. But at the same time, a month before the expected start date of harvesting, the need for liquid decreases sharply, due to the fact that the vegetable begins to accumulate dry matter.
In addition, fodder root crops often suffer from weeds and due to heavy infestation often do not get from 30 to 80% of the crop. Therefore, regular row-spacing is the key to successful fodder beet cultivation.
Harvesting
In late summer - early autumn, fodder beet stops forming new leaves, while the old ones begin to gradually turn yellow, and then die off. The growth of root crops also stops, and excess moisture entering at this time can only worsen the taste of vegetables.
Fodder beets, which farmers love to take photos of, thus capturing the results of their work, are removed from the beds in early October, before the first frosts. Harvest, digging up the fruits a little with a shovel or pitchfork. For long-term storage, fodder beets are cleaned of adhering earth and tops and stored in earthen pits or cellars at a temperature of 3 to 5 degrees.
Knowing notnot only about what fodder beet looks like, but also how to grow a successful crop of this vegetable, any farmer will be able to make wonderful stocks of fodder for the winter. In addition, in the cold season, this valuable and useful culture will bring real pleasure to animals.
