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Storage of Sugar Beets under Conditions of High Humidity and Low Temperature 1
Author(s) -
Gaskill John O.,
Brewbaker H. E.
Publication year - 1939
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1939.00021962003100020003x
Subject(s) - sugar , citation , agriculture , sugar industry , division (mathematics) , political science , agricultural economics , agricultural science , horticulture , library science , business , mathematics , geography , environmental science , computer science , economics , chemistry , archaeology , arithmetic , biology , food science
S of sugar beets for breeding purposes has been accomplished in the past in a number of ways. The methods most co~nnonly employed included the root storage cellar and the pit silo or trench, in each of which the beets as a rule were covered by or packed in some moisture-holding medium, such as moist sand, as recommended by Pack (3), "~ or ordinary moist field soil. Straw cover has been used to some extent, and Hart’is (~) reported satisfactory results from storage in dry sand. Kohls (2) reported that mother beets coated with paraffin and stored in crates in a root cellar, without sand or any other covering or packing material, kept satisfactorily. For best results it was necessary to remove the paraffin from the root sutures before planting. The importance of minimizing loss of water from the roots apparently has been rather generally recognized, and was emphasized by Pack. For the period between harvest and analysis, Pack (4) suggested piling without packing material in a ventilated but covered pit in order to induce a more uniform moisture content. He recommended that the roots be analyzed within a relatively short period after harvest and then be stored over winter in moist sand. This paper describes a method of moist cellar storage in which considerable economy of labor is effected through elimination of paraffin, sand, or other treatment. The loss of sucrose which occurred in beets stored by this method is compared with that which occurred with the ordinary pit silo.