Enhancing Soil Resilience and Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris L.) Yield: Mid‐Term Effects of Compost and Glauconite Integration

Abstract

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is a globally significant crop, valued for its economic importance in sugar production. Saline‐sodic soil environments negatively impact sugar beet productivity. This study investigates the effects of using compost, glauconite enriched‐K and their combinations in mitigating the saline‐sodic soil environment, sugar beet productivity and extracted sugar quality. A two‐season field experiment in split‐plot design with the main plots is three doses of compost: control (C0), recommended (100%) dose (C1) and 150% recommended dose (C2). Each group divided into four subplots of glauconite treatments arranged according to the recommended dose of potassium (K) as follows: G0 (no glauconite), G1 (50% K), G2 (100% K, 480 Kg glauconite Fed−1) and G3 (150% K). The results showed that compost and glauconite mitigated adverse soil effects caused by salinity and sodicity. The C2G3 treatment reduced electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), improved organic matter and enhanced soil bulk density, porosity and penetration resistance. This combination also increased soil nutrients (N, K, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu). Regarding the sugar beet yield, C2G3 improved root yield, top yield, sugar yield and extracted sugar. The application of glauconite increased root diameter by 20% and root length by 23%, enhanced sugar quality with minimal sugar losses to molasses (2.43%), and reduced impurities of K, α‐amino N and Na. Principal component analysis showed positive correlations between root yield and soil potassium, organic matter, cation exchange capacity and soil porosity, with negative correlations to bulk density, EC, pH and ESP. Two‐way analysis of main (ANOM) illustrated significant effects of compost and glauconite on soil–plant interactions. Multivariate analysis indicated that higher glauconite doses significantly enhanced root yield. The Gag run charts confirmed that compost (100%) and G3 levels explored more homogeneity reducing the ESP%, increasing sugar beet root yield, sugar yield and quality.