Abstract
Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects that different doses of castor bean (0, 200, and 300 g m-2) and irrigation levels (204, 224, 278, and 321 mm in 2014, and 278, 302, 397, and 444 mm in 2015) have on both the productivity and quality of onion bulbs. In the experiments, the experimental design was randomized blocks (4 x 3 factorial scheme), with five replicates. Irrigation management was performed using a Simplified Irrigation Device (SID) in response to soil water tension in the treatment of highest irrigation depth. The following variables were evaluated: plant dry biomass (PDB), bulb dry biomass (BDB), total yield (TY), mean bulb fresh weight (MBFW), mean bulb dry weight (MBDW), mean bulb diameter (MBD) and water use efficiency (WUE). The highest irrigation depths positively influenced the mean production of onion bulbs, regardless of the applied dose of castor cake. The doses of castor cake positively influenced the production of onion bulbs when higher irrigation depths were applied.
Highlights
Onion occupies a prominent position among bulbous vegetables and has the great economic importance in the world (El Balla, Hamid, & Abdelmageed, 2013)
In response to the development of culture and the soil and climatic conditions of the region, the irrigation system was activated by the Simplified Irrigation Device (SID) 48 times during the onion crop cycle in 2014 and 53 times in 2015, applying irrigation levels plus rainfall of 204 (L4), 224 (L3), 278 (L2), and 321 mm (L1) in 2014, and 278 (L4), 302 (L3), 397 (L2), and 444 mm (L1) in 2015
The plant dry biomass (PDB) was influenced from 100 days after transplanting (DAT) (Figure 2A), whereas the irrigation depths L1, L2, and L3 (9.0 g plant-1) did not exhibit significant differences among themselves but did differ from L4 (6.3 g plant-1)
Summary
Onion occupies a prominent position among bulbous vegetables and has the great economic importance in the world (El Balla, Hamid, & Abdelmageed, 2013). Because the cultivated area of onion is increasing worldwide, irrigation systems must be optimized, especially in arid and semi-arid regions (Zheng et al, 2013) In this context, studies to characterize the adequate water depth for the onion crop have been conducted, and their results indicate that higher yields occur when the soil is maintained with moisture close to field capacity (Channagoudra, Prabhudeva, & Kamble, 2009; Martin de Santa Olalla, Domínguez-Padilla, & López, 2004; Shock, Feibert, & Saunders, 2000). Castor cake is a byproduct of castor oil extraction (Magriotis et al, 2014); it contains 4.15, 0.61, and 0.96% of N, P, and K, respectively, and has a C/N ratio of approximately 11.6 (Zapata, Vargas, Reyes, & Belmar, 2012) It is considered a high-quality fertilizer (Lima et al, 2011). This study was undertaken to further evaluate the interactive effects that different irrigation levels and doses of castor bean cake have on the productivity and quality of onion bulbs in an organic production system
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