Dehydrator Onion Bulb Weight and Water-soluble Carbohydrates before and after Maturity

Abstract

Onions (Allium cepa L.) with ≥18% bulb dry weight are dehydrated and used for spices and food ingredients. Bulb weight characteristics and water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) of two commercial dehydrator cultivars, GS02 and GS04, and a breeding population, NM9335, were studied before and after maturity to observe phenotypic traits that may be useful for selection during breeding programs, and to study dehydrator onion carbohydrate physiology. At maturity, NM9335, GS02, and GS04 bulbs had 11.9 ± 0.33%, 18.6 ± 0.27%, and 19.4 ± 0.40% dry weight, respectively. Mature GS04 plants had 76.5 ± 0.01% of whole plant dry weight in bulbs, which is an extraordinarily high crop harvest index. NM9335 bulbs had higher fresh (hydrated) weight than bulbs of GS04 and GS02, but bulbs in all populations accumulated similar amounts of dry weight. Bulb percent dry weight before maturity did not indicate percent dry weight at maturity in the high-solids commercial onion cultivars. Bulb percent dry weight declined slightly after maturity in all populations. Glucose, fructose, and sucrose were relatively low, and fructans with degree of polymerization ≥6 were relatively high in GS04, but the converse was observed in NM9335. Relative amounts of GSO4 bulb fructan increased sequentially, in order of rank, from DP4 to DP6, but the converse was observed for NM9335.