Quality of Sugar Beets under the Effects of Digestate Application to the Soil

Management of digestate from production of biogas has a great environmental importance. One of feedstock for biogas generation is beet pulp, a side product of sugar beet processing plant. In the paper a closed loop of beet pulp utilization at sugar beet plantation is presented. Effects of soil application of digestate obtained from digestion of sugar beet pulp were compared with standard mineral fertilizers. The field experiment was performed in three successive growing seasons. The studies were concentrated on quality of sugar beets grown under effects of two fertilization treatments—soil application of digestate cv. standard mineral fertilizers. It was found that some important quality indices (weight of single sugar beet root, content of sucrose in root tissues) were higher for beet harvested from digestate treatment compared to standard mineral fertilization (control). The concentration of harmful component (amide nitrogen) in sugar beets grown under conditions of digestate soil application was lower than in the control. It can be concluded that soil application of digestate from processing of sugar beet pulp can be treated as environmentally sound and effective method of its management

The Effects of Soil Application of Digestate Enriched with P, K, Mg and B on Yield and Processing Value of Sugar Beets

The aim of this research was to find out if the supplementation of digestate, a by-product of the anaerobic digestion of sugar beet pulp, with phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and boron can improve digestate performance as a soil amendment. The materials of this study were: digestate and sugar beet roots (Beta vulgaris cv. Fighter). A field trial was carried out on sugar beet growth under soil application conditions of solid and liquid digestate fractions with or without supplementation with P, K, Mg and B. It was shown that the root yield obtained from the plots amended with digestate supplemented with P, K, Mg and B was higher compared to the yield of other treatments. Soil amendment with digestate supplemented with P, K, Mg and B affected quality parameters of sugar beet roots. An increase in the following parameters under the effects of enriched digestate application was found: sucrose content, dry residue, pomace content, inverted sugars, α-amino and amide nitrogen fractions, as well as sodium and potassium content. A reduction in the content of conductometric ash was noted but this difference was not proven. The enrichment of digestate with P, K, Mg and B resulted in the beneficial modification of beet roots’ processing parameters with the exception of the predicted content of sugar in molasses. In the case of the liquid fraction and its supplementation with P, K, Mg and B, six among eleven technological quality parameters were increased

Application of Sugar Beet Pulp Digestate as a Soil Amendment in the Production of Energy Maize

This study aimed to determine the suitability of sugar beet pulp digestion by-products as soil amendments for maize grown for energy purposes. In a plot experiment, nitrogen fertilizer at a standard rate of 200 kg N ha−1 was applied as a control vs. treatment with solid and liquid digestate fractions. Digestate was obtained from a gasifier processing only sugar beet pulp. Following harvest, heating and calorific values were determined together with the yield and chemical composition of the maize cob and stover. It was found that soil amendment with crude (unseparated) digestate or its two fractions (separated into liquid and solid) produced higher yields of maize cobs and stover compared with the application of standard fertilizer. An analysis of the energy value of the maize plant revealed differences between the studied soil treatments. Cobs obtained from plots treated with the digestate showed higher calorific and heating values than those obtained from control plots; however, maize stover from control plots showed higher calorific and heating values compared with plants from other experimental plots. It can be concluded that by-products obtained from sugar beet pulp digestion can be alternatively used as a soil amendment for maize production in a crop rotation with sugar beet. Among studied amendments the solid fraction of the digestate was found to have the best performance

Predictive Evaluation of Microbiological Stability of Soft Drinks with Lycium barbarum L. Stored at Temperature Shifts

Lycium barbarum L., used in Chinese traditional medicine for centuries, has gained popularity in Europe in the last decade because of its health-promoting properties assigned to phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. Goji fruits and extracts are often used as ingredients in popular homemade milk cocktails. Within this study, the microbiological stability of the milkshake, with the addition of berries from NingXia Province and their extract, was evaluated using the ComBase® prognostic model. The extraction of dry berries in water at 70 °C for 72 h produced an extract showing radical inhibition of 64.9% and a total phenol content of 63.6 mg g−1. The phenolic compounds with the highest concentrations were in turn: 3-hydroxybenzoic acid, gallic acid, procyanidin B2, and catechin. The milkshake inoculated with the reference B. subtilis was a model for the study of its microbiological stability. Using ComBase®, a microbiological response to the delayed cooling of goji berry extract and the milkshake with the addition of goji berries was predicted and the model’s accuracy assessed. The best-performing models were constructed for extract (Bias factor Bf 1.33, Accuracy factor Af 3.43) and milkshake (Bf 1.29, Af 1.65) in a profile simulating delayed refrigeration (22.5 °C–9 °C–23 °C). Despite discrepancies between predicted and observed bacterial growth due to the antimicrobial effect of the derivatives of goji berries, the models were validated as „overpredict”, i.e., „fail safe”, and may be used to prognose the stability of these products in the given temperature profile

Fresh and Stored Sugar Beet Roots as a Source of Various Types of Mono- and Oligosaccharides

Although sugar beets are primarily treated as a source of sucrose, due to their rich chemical composition, they can also be a source of other carbohydrates, e.g., mono- and oligosaccharides. The study focused on both fresh beet roots and those stored in mounds. Our studies have shown that, in addition to sucrose, sugar beet tissue also comprises other carbohydrates: kestose (3.39%) and galactose (0.65%) and, in smaller amounts, glucose, trehalose and raffinose. The acidic hydrolysis of the watery carbohydrates extracts resulted in obtaining significant amounts of glucose (8.37%) and arabinose (3.11%) as well as xylose and galactose and, in smaller amounts, mannose. An HPSEC liquid chromatography study of the molecular mass profile of the carbohydrate compounds present in the beet roots showed alongside the highest percentage (96.53–97.43%) of sucrose (0.34 kDa) the presence of pectin compounds from the araban group and arabinoxylooligosaccharides (5–9 kDa) with a percentage share of 0.61 to 1.87%. On the basis of our research, beet roots can be considered a potential source of carbohydrates, such as kestose, which is classified as fructooligosaccharide (FOS). The results of this study may be helpful in evaluating sugar beets as a direct source of various carbohydrates, or as a raw material for the biosynthesis of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) or galactooligosaccharides (GOS)