Las Tecnologías Y Variedades De Remolacha Forrajera

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Technologies and Varieties of Fodder Beet in Organic Farming
Hana Honsová1, František Hnilička2, David Bečka1 and Václav Hejnák2
Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, 1Department of Crop Production, 2Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Prague Czech Republic

1. Introduction
In the organic farming system where theconcentrate feeds are purchased a crop rotation for producing none only forage has been found to be expensive in relation to forage production costs, fossil energy inputs and the loss of production while crops are being established. The aim of organic farming is to create coexistence of multilateral, biologically and ecologically balanced weeds with low biomass production and strong culture crop. In weedsregulation we use preventive measures (seed rotation, late sowing, parallel growing of covering under sowings etc.), but also direct regulation methods, i.e. harrowing and line weeding (Petr et al., 1992). Fodder beet is a crop for which cultivation areas are reduced, since in 2000 the sown area of 7597 hectares, but in 2007 decreased to 807 ha in the Czech Republic. A slight increase can berecorded in the year 2008 - 845 ha. Even though the area of fodder beet reduced this crop has an irreplaceable role in maintaining biodiversity in agro ecosystems. Therefore, at present there is a new application in organic farming, which is among the good fore crop. Fodder beet areas in all over the world are not great. But it is a pity, because this crop has very high feed quality. Nowadays fodderbeet could find new use in organic farming, especially as excellent feed for dairy cattle and energy crops. In ecological production of fodder beet we have some unsolved questions concerning i.e. weeds reduction, beet competitiveness improvement and optimal stand density. Fodder beet is a wide-row crop with slow initial development, which decreases its competitiveness in relation to weeds. This crophas very high feed quality. Fodder beet could find new use in ecological farming, especially as excellent feed for dairy cattle (Kodeš et al., 2001). Energy crops with wide ratio of nutrients – fodder beet, semi-sugar beet and sugar beet – provide more energy in comparison with cereals or forage crops. Fodder beet provides maximum amount of energy per one hectare and presents easily digestiblefeed (Kosař, 1985). The most important factor determining nutritional quality of feeds is digestibility. Its value significantly influences amount of nutrients and of energy available for animal (Mudřík et al., 2006).

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Research in Organic Farming

In feed can be determined combustible heat (gross energy). Gross energy (BE) is determined in calorimeter by complete combustion of feed inoxygen atmosphere and is expressed in mega joules (MJ). Energy value of feed for cattle is determined in MJ as NELs (for lactation cattle) and NEVs (for growing cattle - weight gain above 800 g/day). For energy content determination it is also necessary to determine metabolized energy content for cattle (MEs) (Zeman, 2002). Besides the traditional use of fodder beet as the dietary food new ways of useappear. It is the use in bioenergetics, such as the production of bioethanol (Reed et al., 1986; Mähnert and Linke, 2009; Chochola, 2007; Pulkrábek et al. 2007) and biogas (Scherer, et al., 2009; Klocke et al., 2007). Use of fodder beet as a source of renewable energy results from the fact that it provides more energy than cereals and fodder crops (Urban et al., 2005; Hnilička et al., 2009;Martínez-Pérez et al., 2007). The aim of our research was to compare and to recommend chosen varieties of fodder beet organic growing based on production ability evaluation. In three years experiments (2005 – 2007) small-plot trials were established (in four repetitions on plots with harvest area of ten square meters) with fodder beet on certified and controlled ecological area.

2. Methodology...