Long-Term Analysis for Harvest Erosion Caused by Sugar Beet Production in Turkey

Year 2018, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 51 - 57, 28.02.2018

Selen Deviren Saygın

https://doi.org/10.19159/tutad.348191

Cited By: 1

Abstract

The sustainability of soil resources is under significant threat due to
the accelerated anthropogenic pressures at the historical expansion of human population. In this context, soil erosion is
defined as a limiting factor for human interests in terms of ecosystem
services. As an erosion type, harvest
erosion occurs by harvesting of the taproot and tuberous root plants such as sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), potato (Solanum
tuberosum L.), carrot (Daucus carota
L.) and chicory (Cichorium intybus
L.), has begun to take attention in recent years. The
objective of this study was to estimate
soil loss due to harvest erosion and to economically analyze the transport of plant nutrients between 1999 and 2016 from
sugar beet growing areas in Turkey. For this aim, the compiled data of 25 different sugar factories throughout Turkey
were obtained from Türkşeker and soil loss estimations were performed and
economically analyzed. According to the results, average soil loss rate was
calculated as 3.41 Mg ha^-1y^-1 for the studied period (1999-2016).
That means annually an average of 716983
Mg soil removed from the Türkşeker sugar beet production areas. This result indicated that harvest erosion represents only
0.9% of soil lost by water erosion in
Turkey. But, if tolerable soil loss value considered as “1 Mg ha^-1 y^-1”,
calculated soil loss values are above this critical value for all the
factories. In addition, economic
assessments of soil losses showed that costs are to be more than US $10 000 annually on the 60% of the factories
due to removal of plant nutrients with harvest process. And, annually US $419 433
investment must be made to recover all
these losses. Conclusively, harvest erosion as an ignored erosion type must be
emphasized to the economic sustainability
of natural resources in fragile ecosystems such as our country.

Keywords

Harvest erosion, sugar beet, soil and plant nutrient losses

Long-Term Analysis for Harvest Erosion Caused by Sugar Beet Production in Turkey

Abstract

The sustainability of soil resources is under significant threat due to the accelerated anthropogenic pressures at the historical expansion of human population. In this context, soil erosion is defined as a limiting factor for human interests in terms of ecosystem services. As an erosion type, harvest erosion occurs by harvesting of the taproot and tuberous root plants such as sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), carrot (Daucus carota L.) and chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), has begun to take attention in recent years. The objective of this study was to estimate soil loss due to harvest erosion and to economically analyze the transport of plant nutrients between 1999 and 2016 from sugar beet growing areas in Turkey. For this aim, the compiled data of 25 different sugar factories throughout Turkey were obtained from Türkşeker and soil loss estimations were performed and economically analyzed. According to the results, average soil loss rate was calculated as 3.41 Mg ha-1y-1 for the studied period (1999-2016). That means annually an average of 716983 Mg soil removed from the Türkşeker sugar beet production areas. This result indicated that harvest erosion represents only 0.9% of soil lost by water erosion in Turkey. But, if tolerable soil loss value considered as “1 Mg ha-1 y-1”, calculated soil loss values are above this critical value for all the factories. In addition, economic assessments of soil losses showed that costs are to be more than US $10 000 annually on the 60% of the factories due to removal of plant nutrients with harvest process. And, annually US $419 433 investment must be made to recover all these losses. Conclusively, harvest erosion as an ignored erosion type must be emphasized to the economic sustainability of natural resources in fragile ecosystems such as our country.

Keywords

Harvest erosion, sugar beet, soil and plant nutrient losses

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