IMPACT OF TEMPERATURE AND STORAGE TIME ON SUCROSE CONTENT IN SUGAR BEET

Abstract

During storage the chemical composition of sugar beets changes as harvested sugar is lost due to respiration by the living beet root. The efficiency of sugar manufacturing depends largely on the quality of the raw beet material. Good processing quality is characterized by a combination of high sucrose concentration and low concentration of non sucrose substances that impair white sugar recovery. Long –term storage of sugar beet is a solution to extend the processing period of sugar factories. The sugar companies consider prolonging the processing campaign in order to reduce the fixed costs of their factories. In future, the storage period will thus be extended, too, and the amount of stored beets will increase. The aim of this study is to determine the temperature and storage time influence on the variation of sucrose content of new sugar beet hybrids adapted to the new climate conditions of Europe. Sugar beet has been stored at the temperatures of 2, 6, 10, 15 and 20 ^oC and analyses of the sucrose content after 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 day-storage periods have been made. All along storage the sucrose content decreased in inverse ratio to the storage temperature and direct ratio to storage period having specific variations for all cultivars analyzed.