Evaluation of Nutritional Status of Sugar Beet Using Diagnostic and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) in Comparison with Deviation from Optimum Percentage (DOP) in Western Azerbaijan Province

To establish DRIS norms in sugar beet (Beta Vulgaris L.) and compare them with DOP index, leaf samples were collected from 57 fields and N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and B concentrations were determined. On the bases of crop yield, the fields were divided into two groups with low and high yielding performances. Standard DRIS norms were established for the different nutrient ratios. DRIS indices were calculated to evaluate nutrient balances and order of nutrients requirements. Sufficiency ranges of macro and micro nutrients were derived by DRIS technique. DRIS-derived sufficiency ranges were 3.0-5.4, 0.21-0.47, 1.7-3.7, 0.55-1.6, 0.19-0.34% for N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and 24-168, 10-19, 42-138, 10-14, 9-20 mg/kg for Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, B, respectively. DRIS indices showed that among macro and micro nutrients in all low yielding fields, Phosphorus and copper had the most negative index values, respectively. The nutritional balance index (NBI) of DRIS and of DOP (∑DOP) were much more than zero in all low-yielding fields, indicating that there was imbalance between the absorbed nutrients by sugar beet. Comparison of the DRIS method with the DOP showed that both methods provide similar information in the interpretation of the results of leaf analysis.