Effects of seedling age and potassium fertilizer on growth and yield of summer onion

doi:10.18801/ajcsp.040120.17

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to assess the effects of seedling age and potassium fertilizer to improve summer onion production (cv. BARI Piaj-3). The experiment consisted of two factors; Factor A: three seedling age, viz. 35; 40 and 45 days old and Factor B: four different doses of potassium, viz. 0; 40; 80 and 120 kg/ha-1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The effect of different seedling age and potassium fertilizer and their combined effects showed significant variations in growth and yield of onion. In case of seedling age, the highest plant height (56.58 cm), leaf number (12.37) per plant, leaf length (41.77 cm), yield of bulb per plot (1.96 kg) and yield of bulb (19.64 t/ha) were recorded from 45 day old seedling. In case of different doses of potassium, the highest plant height (58.82 cm), leaf number per plant (13.93), leaf length (43.69 cm), yield of bulb per plot (1.90 kg) and yield of bulb (19.00 t/ha) were recorded from 120 kg K ha-1. Combined effects of seedling age and potassium fertilizer exhibited significant variation on plant height at different days after transplant (DAT), leaf number per plant, leaf length, bulb diameter, pseudostem diameter, fresh weight of bulb, dry weight of bulbs, fresh weight of foliage, dry weight of foliage, yield of bulbs per plot and yield of bulbs (t/ha). The highest bulb yields per plot (2.31 kg) as well as per hectare (23.05 tons) were achieved from the treatment combination of 45 day old seedling and 120 kg K ha-1.

Highlights

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is the most extensively cultivated and broadly consumed spice crops around the globe
The highest plant height (56.58 cm) was obtained at 75 days after transplanting (DAT) from the plants when they were transplanted at 45 days old seedling followed by the plants at 40 days old seedlings (54.65 cm) and the lowest (51.44 cm) was recorded when plants were grown with 35 days old seedlings (Table 01)
Plant height was found to be increased with the increase in potassium dose, and the maximum plant height (58.82 cm) at 75 DAT was obtained from K3 and the minimum plant height (49.55 cm) at control treatment (K0)

Summary

Introduction

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is the most extensively cultivated and broadly consumed spice crops around the globe. The origin of onion is somewhere between western China and deserts lying east of the Caspian Sea (Jones and Mann, 1963). It originated in an area which includes Iran, Pakistan, its northern mountainous region (Purseglove, 1972). Onions have been valued for their medicinal qualities across the world. It promotes the flow of urine, uses against tuberculosis, typhoid fever, venereal disease, chest and lungs problem and used as a stimulant. Some researches revealed that it is used as a diabetic drug in Arabian Folk medicine and reduces blood sugar by 25 percent (Mossa, 1985; Yawalkar, 1985)

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