Dr. Chengci Chen compares no-till and strip-till soil samples for soil crusting, acidification, organic matter degradation issues and potential benefits of no-till sugar beets during the 2018 Field Day.
Dr. Chengci Chen, MSU-EARC superintendent and agronomist, will be presenting data of his research results of nitrogen and irrigation management affecting sugar beet root yield and sucrose concentration at MonDak Ag Days, Friday, March 4 at 11 a.m. MT.
Chen has been working on pea, lentil, and chickpea crops for 20 years in Montana and has performed extensive research on sugar beet and cereal grains for the past 6 years at MSU-EARC.
"Sugar beets are the most important cash crop in this valley. sugar beet growers got paid not only based on the tonnage of root yield, but also on the sucrose concentration in the root. Nitrogen and water management affects both root yield and sucrose concentration," explained Chen.
He will demonstrate how the nitrogen fertilizer affects root yield and sucrose concentration as well as discuss how growers can make decisions relating to nitrogen management. He will also show growers spring wheat and durum variety performance, so growers can make decisions on what varieties will grow best on their farms.
He will also present spring wheat and durum wheat variety performance under dryland and irrigated conditions.
Chen hopes to generate thinking with his presentation and wants to discuss what would work best for specific operations.
He said, "I would like to see more growers in the meeting so that we can discuss what works and what doesn't work in this region and any emerging issue the growers and researchers need to deal with."
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