El-Sharkawy Mahmoud, Alotaibi Modhi O, Mahmoud Esawy, El-Naqma Kholoud A, Kanany Ramadan E, Zoghdan Medhat G, Shabana Mahmoud M
Soil and Water Department, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
Department of Biology, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
PeerJ. 2025 Jun 18;13:e19452. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19452. eCollection 2025.
Sugar beet is essential for sugar production, supporting food industries and renewable energy resources. A two-season field experiment (2021/2022 and 2022/2023) evaluated the effects of different potassium (K) sources, including traditional potassium sulfate (K), glauconite powder (G), and foliar glauconite extracts (20- and 40-mL L) extracted with sulfuric acid (GS), humic acid (GH), or hot water (GW), on soil properties, sugar beet yield, and sugar quality in saline soils. The results showed that GH and G treatments significantly improved soil properties by reducing electrical conductivity (EC), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), and bulk density (BD), while increasing organic matter (OM) and infiltration rate (IR). The application of glauconite extracted by humic acid in 40 mL (GH2) treatment improved soil nutrient availability, notably increasing nitrogen (by 73.4%), potassium (by 137.2%), cupper (by 219.7%), and manganese (by 316.7%) compared to control, while GS2 enhanced ferrous (by 213.7%) and zinc (by 363.7%). GH2 application led to remarkable improvements in sugar beet yield, with average increases in root yield (94.84%), shoot yield (100.45%), total sugar yield (137.22%), and sucrose (20.5%) compared to the control, whereas GW treatments showed the least improvements. Despite GW recording the lowest sugar impurities, GH2 recorded the lowest alkalinity level. Advanced analytical techniques such as heatmaps, self-organizing maps (SOM), and while non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis revealed strong positive correlations between soil properties, sugar beet responses and sugar quality attributes. These findings underscore the potential incorporation of new innovative cost-effective alternative foliar amendment derived from glauconite rock-waste extraction with humic acid highlighting a sustainable agricultural strategy for managing soil health and crop productivity contributing to food security and environmental sustainability.
甜菜对食糖生产至关重要，支撑着食品工业和可再生能源资源。一项两季田间试验（2021/2022年和2022/2023年）评估了不同钾（K）源，包括传统硫酸钾（K）、海绿石粉（G）以及用硫酸（GS）、腐殖酸（GH）或热水（GW）提取的叶面海绿石提取物（20毫升/升和40毫升/升），对盐渍土壤的土壤性质、甜菜产量和糖品质的影响。结果表明，GH和G处理通过降低电导率（EC）、交换性钠百分比（ESP）和容重（BD），同时增加有机质（OM）和入渗率（IR），显著改善了土壤性质。腐殖酸提取的海绿石40毫升（GH2）处理提高了土壤养分有效性，与对照相比，氮（增加73.4%）、钾（增加137.2%）、铜（增加219.7%）和锰（增加316.7%）显著增加，而GS2提高了亚铁（增加213.7%）和锌（增加363.7%）。施用GH2使甜菜产量显著提高，与对照相比，根产量平均增加（94.84%）、地上部产量增加（100.45%）、总糖产量增加（137.22%）和蔗糖增加（20.5%），而GW处理的改善最少。尽管GW记录的糖杂质最低，但GH2记录的碱度水平最低。热图、自组织映射（SOM）等先进分析技术以及非度量多维尺度分析（NMDS）显示，土壤性质、甜菜响应和糖品质属性之间存在强正相关。这些发现强调了将源自海绿石岩废料与腐殖酸提取的新型创新型经济高效替代叶面改良剂纳入其中的潜力，突出了一种管理土壤健康和作物生产力的可持续农业战略，有助于粮食安全和环境可持续性。
