Data from the Braunschweig FACE (free-air CO2 enrichment) experiments on sugar beet at adequate and low levels of nitrogen supply

Abstract

An experiment was carried out during 2 years in order to investigate the effect of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations at different nitrogen supply on growth, yield and sugar content of sugar beet. Sugar beet was grown twice (2001, 2004) within a crop rotation at ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (375 and 550 ppm) fertilized with a high (126, 156 kg N ha-1) or low level (63, 78 kg N ha-1) of nitrogen supply. In the second year another cultivar was used to prevent infestation by rhizomania, which occurred on one half of the field plots at the end of the season of 2001. In 2004, shading was included as an additional treatment. Data set includes data on management, soil condition, weather, below and above ground growth (individual leaves, leaf area index, total biomass, beet yield and composition, water soluble carbohydrates, root biomass). Data can be used to validate the effect of elevated CO2 concentration in sugar beet growth models