J Sci Food Agric 1996,70,369-372

Sugar Beet Grown Using Nutrient Film

Technique : Yield and Nutritional Quality
Aurea M Almazan,* Desmond G Mortley and Patricia J Grant
George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station, School of Agriculture and Home Economics,
Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088, USA
(Received 3 November 1995; revised version received 24 June 1995; accepted 22 September 1995)

Abstract: Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L cv Great Western Sugar) was grown using
the nutrient film technique with a half-strength modified Hoagland nutrient solu-
tion to determine its biomass yield and nutritional quality. After 6 months,
storage root and foliage weights per plant were 493.1 g and 551.0 g, respectively.
Sucrose content in the fresh storage root was 118.4 g kg-' but was less than
10 g kg-' in the fresh leaves and petioles. Some nutrients in the leaves and peti-
oles were analysed to evaluate their potential as a leafy vegetable. Fresh leaf
protein, total dietary fibre, mineral (Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and K), vitamin (carotene,
ascorbic acid and thiamine) and oxalic acid concentrations were similar to those
of consumer-accepted green vegetables.

Key words: sugar beet, storage root, green vegetable, leafy vegetable, nutrient
film technique.

INTRODUCTION thiamine) and oxalic acid in the leaf lamina and petiole
were determined to evaluate their nutritional quality.
Tuskegee University has been using the nutrient film
technique (NFT) in the production of sweetpotatoes for
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's
Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) MATERIALS AND METHODS
programme (Morris et al 1989; Mortley et al 1991;
Bonsi et al 1992). CELSS is an engineered biological Production and sample preparation
life-support system where the ecology is strictly con-
trolled to operate within a limited, enclosed environ- Sugar beet cultivar Great Western Sugar was grown in
ment and within certain environmental parameters the greenhouse with a daytime (6 am to 6 pm) tem-
(Wieland 1994). In this environment, utilisation of the perature of 22-29°C and a night-time (6 pm to 6 am)
whole plant must be maximised to reduce waste pro- temperature of 20-26°C. Sunlight irradiance at canopy
duction. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L) is among the can- level was 340-620 pmols m-' s-' during the day, and
didate sugar crops of CELSS (Hoff et al 1982). Even 20-150 pmols m P 2 s - * at night. Seeds were germinated
though sugar beet foliage is generally discarded or used on a cotton cloth (10 x 20 cm) suspended by two strips
as animal feed, it is a potential green vegetable. (2.5 cm wide) of black/white vinyl in an NFT channel
This study was conducted to determine the yield of (Morris et al 1989; Mortley et al 1991). The cloth ends
sugar beet cultivar Great Western Sugar using the were immersed in a half-strength modified Hoagland
nutrient film technique system for sweetpotato. Concen- nutrient solution (Hoagland and Arnon 1950; Loretan
trations of protein, total dietary fibre, minerals (Ca, Mg, et al 1989) with an N : K ratio of 1 : 2.4, to serve as
Zn, Fe and K), vitamins (carotene, ascorbic acid and wicks supplying moisture and nutrients to the germi-
nating seeds. Four seedlings at the one or two true leaf
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. stage were transferred to each of six channels without
369
J Sci Food Agric 0022-5142/96/$09.00 0 1996 SCI. Printed in Great Britain
370 A M Almazan et a1

the flat plate assembly (FPA). This was removed Sucrose, fructose and glucose were eluted in 15 min
because a preliminary trial with FPA produced through a Bio-Rad fast carbohydrate analysis column
restricted taproot crown size with reduced number of (100 x 7.8 mm), maintained at 80°C and protected by a
leaves. Also, the preliminary trial without FPA sug- Bio-Rad Carbo-P guard cartridge, with water at a flow-
gested that subsurface contact or pressure on the rate of 0.4 ml min-'.
taproot may not be necessary for storage root initiation
and development. Nutrient solution, initially 30-2 litres,
was continuously pumped into the channel at the rate RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
of 1 litre min-' and was changed every 2 weeks. Deion-
ised water was added intermittently to the nutrient solu- Total, storage and fibrous root, and foliage biomass per
tion to bring it back to its original volume. Initial plant at harvest are shown in Table 1. The storage root
solution pH and electrical conductivity varied from 6.4 weight obtained (435.5 g) was lower than that of the
to 6.9 and from 89 to 130 mS m-', respectively. Fresh average field grown plant (650 g) and that obtained by
weights/per plant of the storage and fibrous roots and Bone et al (1981) (640 g) using a different NFT system
foliage for each of the six channels were determined at with sewage effluent as the nutrient source. The taproot,
harvest 6 months later. which is used as a raw material for sucrose, was only
One plant per channel was used for sugar and nutri- 402 g kg-' of the total fresh biomass. The foliage,
ent analyses. The taproot was cut into 1 cm cubes and which is ordinarily discarded or used as animal feed,
freeze-dried to reduce browning reactions after samples was 544 g kg-', almost half of the total fresh biomass.
for assays requiring fresh materials were obtained. The In a closed system such as CELSS, utilisation of the
green and undamaged foliage was separated into leaf foliage as a green vegetable can reduce waste pro-
and petiole, the cut being made at the base of the duction and treatment.
lamina. Each part was chopped into small pieces, Both leaf lamina and stem are edible but preference
samples taken for some analyses, and the remainder for one part only is possible. The compositions of these
dried at 60°C. parts, therefore, were separately determined (Table 2).
Sucrose was the main sugar in the storage root
(118.4 g kg-') with fructose and glucose at very low
Chemical analyses and undetectable concentrations, respectively. This
value was lower than that obtained from sugar beets
The Association of Official Analytical Chemists' pro- grown in sewage effluent (145 g kg-' total reducing
cedures (AOAC 1990) were used for analyses. Dry sugars (Bone et a1 1981))and in field-grown plants fertil-
matter content was determined by drying overnight at ised with beef feedlot waste (111.6-135.5 g kg-' (Eck
100 k 2°C. Crude protein was calculated by multiplying 1990)). However, storage root dry matter content
Kjeldahl nitrogen by 6.25. Total nitrogen was deter- (194-4 g kg-') was lower than the average for field-
mined by digestion of the ground dried sample in a grown plants (250 g kg-') (Wyse 1982). Thus, on a dry
Tecator Digestion System, followed by distillation and weight basis, sucrose concentrations are comparable in
titration in a Kjeltec Auto 1030 Analyzer (Tecator AB, both hydroponic and field-grown plants.
Hoganas, Sweden). Ash was determined gravimetrically The leaf lamina had higher dry matter, ash, crude
by burning the dried material at 600°C (AOAC 942.05). protein and fat contents but lower sugar concentrations
Concentrations of Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and K in the ash than the petiole (Table 2). Dry matter, ash, crude
were determined by using a flame atomic absorption protein and fat in both parts were comparable to those
spectrophotomer (Perkin Elmer, Norwalk, Conneticut, of field-grown red beet greens (Duke and Atchley 1986).
USA) (AOAC 963.15). Fat was extracted with hexane Leaf protein (33.3 g kg-') was in the same range as
using the Soxhlet method (AOAC 963.15). Total dietary
fibre (TDF) was obtained using an enzymatic gravimet-
ric method (AOAC 985.29). Carotene was extracted TABLE 1
from the fresh materials and determined spectro- Biomass per plant and plant part of sugar beet grown using
photometrically after separation from other pigments N F T (mean k SEM, for six channels)
by column chromatography (AOAC 941.15). The rapid
fluorometric method (AOAC 953.17) was used to assay Plant part Dry matter Fresh weight g kg-'
thiamine. Ascorbic acid and oxalic acid were titrated (9 k g - ' ) (9) total
with 2,6-dichloroindophenol (AOAC 967.21) and per- biomass
manganate (AOAC 974.24), respectively. Soluble sugars
Total biomass 1051.0 114.5 1000
were extracted with 80% ethanol and assayed by a
Storage root 173.9 _+ 8.8 435.5 & 79.5 402 f 31
modified HPLC procedure (Picha 1985) using a Foliage 122.3 3.2 558.6 & 45.0 544 k 31
Bio-Rad HRLC system with a refractive index monitor Fibrous root 92.1 f 4.6 56.9 & 1.6 54 f 4
(Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc, Hercules, California, USA).
Sugar beet yield and nutritional quality 371

TABLE 2
Composition of fresh sugar beet cultivar Great Western Sugar
grown in NFT (g kg- ') (mean f SEMP
~~

Component Storage root Leaf Petiole

Dry matter 194.4 4-0 135.5 & 3.5 92.9 1.7

Crude protein 13.5 f 0.4 33.3 f 0.8 7.4 f 0.4
Crude fat 1.8 f 0.2 +
5.2 0.2 0.8 f 0.1
Ash 11.3 f 0.4 16.0 f 1.3 11.0 0.7+
Sugars
Sucrose 118.4 f 1.7 3.8 It 0.5 +
6.6 0.6
Glucose NDb 8.9 f 1.5 24.4 f 2.0
Fructose 1.3 f 0.6 +
4.5 1.2 11.4 1.2+
Total dietary fibre 26.9 f 1.6 31.2 f 0.7 25.6 0.7+
Oxalic acid (mg) NDet' +
4153 343 287 f 25
~ ~~~

Replicate number = 12 for dry matter, 18 for oxalic acid, 6 for

other components.
' Not detectable. Limit of detection was 0.1 g kg- l .
Not determined.

those for spinach, collard, mustard and turnip greens and sweetpotato tips but thiamine and ascorbic acid
(Pennington and Church 1985; Duke and Atchley contents were considerably lower (Pennington and
1986). Church 1985; Duke and Atchley 1986).
The concentration of the antinutrient oxalic acid in The NFT system used for sweetpotato production
the sugar beet leaves (Table 2) was similar to, and in the without FPA appears to be a suitable hydroponic
petiole lower than those of sweetpotato tips, spinach system to grow sugar beets especially in a CELSS.
and amaranth (Eheart and Massev 1962; Tung et a1 Growth conditions can be modified to obtain yields at
1975; Luh and Moomaw 1979). Total dietary fibre in least similar to those obtained in the field. The nutrients
both leaves and petiole was higher than those in the in the sugar beet leaves and petiole are comparable to
above leafy vegetables. those in consumer-accepted greens, hence the foliage
Mineral concentrations were higher in the leaf than in can also be utilised as a leafy vegetable, maximizing the
the petiole (Table 3). Compared to field-grown red beet use of the crop and reducing plant wastes.
greens, Ca and K levels were lower (1190 and
5700 mg kg-') but Fe content was similar ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
(33 mg kg-') (Duke and Atchley 1981). Carotene con-
centration in the sugar beet leaves was higher than in This paper is contribution no 239 of the George Wash-
spinach, collard, mustard, turnip and red beet greens, ington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station and was

TABLE 3
Vitamins and minerals in fresh sugar beet grown by NFT (mg kg-')
(mean f SEMP
~

Component Storage root Leaf Petiole

Mineral
Ca +
76 3 +
665 53 103 8
Fe 41 f 1 30f 3 9f1
m 523 f 48 3953 & 508 929 294 +
K 1320 k 285 2201 f 735 1663 f 470
Zn 9+2 25 + 4 12f0
Vitamins
Ascorbic acid (mg) NDetb +
109.1 3.5 22.3 2.3 +
Carotene (mg) NDet 76.1 k 5.7 8.4 f 0.7
Carotene (IU) NDet 127000 f 9500 14 100 f 1100
Thiamine (pg) NDet 91.2 f 10.1 39.4 5.6 +
Replicate number = 9 for carotene, 6 for other components.
* Not determined.
312 A M Almazan et a1

supported by funds from the National Aeronautic and logical Life Support System (NASA Contractor Report
Space Administration (Grant no NAGW-2940). Any 166324). Moffett Field, CA, USA.
Loretan P A, Bonsi C K, Hill W A, Ogbuehi C R, Mortley D
opinions, findings and conclusions o r recommendations G, Lu J Y, Morris C E, Pace R D 1989 Sweet potato
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and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA. CELSS applications. SAE Trans J Aeroscope 98 1090-1094.
Luh C L, Moomaw J C 1979 Present role and future outlook
for sweetpotato in Asia-Research and development needs.
In: Proc 5th Symposium of the International Society for
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