Effects of vermicompost on the growth and yield of spring onion (Allium fistulosum L.)

Abstract

Spring onion (Allium fistulosum L.) is a popular salad vegetable produced widely over the world, including in Vietnam. Thanks to its flavor and aroma, it is an indispensable ingredient used to flavor soups and other dishes. Vermicompost is a natural and environmentally friendly fertilizer used widely to increase crop production and maintain the sustainability of agrosystems. Consequently, this study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of vermicompost at different application rates in promoting the growth and yield parameters of spring onion. The results show that adding vermicompost to spring onion production had significant positive effects on plant height, number of leaves, number of tillers, individual plant weight, and plot yield. Particularly, the application of vermicompost at 40 t ha-1 showed the highest performance in the observed parameters, increasing the number of leaves, number of tillers, individual plant weight, and plot yields to 64.78, 21.18, 302.96 g plant-1, and 4.86 kg m-2, respectively. The plot yields in the treatments of the highest and lowest vermicompost application increased by 49.1% and 3.9%, respectively, in comparison to the control. Consequently, there was a strongly positive relationship between the application rate of vermicompost and the plot yield.