POTENTIAL OF AGRONOMIC TREATMENTS TO EFFE CT YIELD AND QUALITY OF SUGAR-BEET .1. YIELD AND MOLASSIGENIC SUBSTANCES

Between 1980-1988 eight series of field trials were performed to estim ate the potential of seven treatments to influence yield and quality o f sugar beet, using the statistical technique of estimation of varianc e components. The ''treatments'' were year, location, variety, nitroge n fertilization, population density, time of sowing and time of harves ting and their interactions. The significance of a single treatment or interaction was expressed by the percentual proportion of its compone nt of variance of the total of all components of variance. The results suggest that ''treatments'', which can be easily manipulated by the f armer - variety and nitrogen fertilization - are of minor importance i n formation of yield and quality of the sugar beets. In contrast, year and interaction year x location were the driving forces of sugar beet growth, which cannot be influenced by man. It is shown that there is an inherent contradiction between a statistically correct estimation o f components of variance and the applicability of the results to agric ultural science.