Sugar beet storage

The tetrasaccharide stachyose [470-55-3] which contains an additional (1 — 6)-1inked a-D-galactopyranosyl unit, is almost as widely distributed as raffinose, but is present in even lower concentrations. Although raffinose and stachyose occur in all parts of plants, they are concentrated in storage tissues, eg, sugar beets and beans, and leaves for the most part. 

In the Red River Valley area of Minnesota and North Dakota, storage sheds for sugar beets were constructed in the mid-1980s that measure 210 ft wide by 520 ft long and hold 50,000 tons of beets. The temperature in these storage facilities is controlled at not much above freezing to minimize degradation of the sucrose content. 

The sugar beet plants reach maturity normally in the fall (October and November in northern latitudes). It has been estabhshed that the sugar accumulation in beets peaks in October and because sugar decomposition as a result of respiration occurs during subsequent storage of beets, they are rapidly harvested and processed from the middle to the end of September. Therefore, the manufacture of beet sugar is very much a seasonal operation. 

Effects of brassinosteroids on the activity of sucrose synthase in tap-roots. Finally, we had to consider the effect of homobrassinolide application on sugar content and sugar yield. It is inferred from Table II that both characteristics were increased only in the case of high drought stress which may be explained by increased activity of sucrose synthase as a consequence of SSHB application. Sucrose synthase is a key enzyme in the root storage of sugar-beet plants and this enzyme is able to synthesize sucrose (6). 

The actual storage form of the carbohydrates produced from carbon dioxide by photosynthesis is not glucose but disaccharides (e.g., sucrose in sugarcane and sugar beets) and polysaccharides (starch and cellulose). However, it is customary and convenient to write the carbohydrate product as glucose, and we shall follow this time-honored practice. 

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