Early-Season Intercropping of Sugarbeet with Barley, Lentil, and Camelina to Improve Establishment and Yield.

There is an interest among growers to intercrop sugarbeet with crops like barley and terminate it using roundup after a while. The companion crop ideally protect sugarbeet seedlings against wind damage and/or blowing soil thus improve crop stand and final yield. The companion crop also can serve as a cover crop and offer other benefits such as improving soil organic matter or reducing weed pressure. Selection of an appropriate crop and timely termination are two critical points that need to be researched to obtain these goals. A field experiment was conducted at Sidney (eastern Montana) in 2016 to evaluate final stand, yield, and quality of sugarbeet when intercropped with barley (60 and 30 lb/ac), lentil (45 and 22.5 lb/ac), and camelina (3 lb/ac). The companion crops were terminated using roundup herbicide either at sugarbeet V3 or V4 growth stage. Since seed of the companion crop is costly, selection of an appropriate crop which can address the above-mentioned goals while reducing the seed cost seems appropriate.