PRESENT STATUS OF ONION BULB AND SEED PRODUCTION IN KHULNA REGION AND EFFECT OF CONTAINERS ON STORABILITY OF ONION SEEDS

Abstract

A survey was done to collect information on present status of onion bulb and seed production and the status of onion seed market in Khulna region and studies were conducted on the effect of different seed containers on storability of onion bulbs and seeds. The survey was conducted at three upazillas of Khulna district viz. Batiaghata, Dumuria and Paikgacha. From land preparation to harvesting, the operations performed by the farmers following orthodox way of cultivation. They use locally produced seeds collected from different sources, irrigate onion field when they feel necessary, use fertilizers containing macro nutrients solely and do not follow any pest control measure. Only 7.5% traders sell solely onion seeds and rest of the traders sells different spice seeds along with the onion seeds. The traders usually do not use any chemicals to preserve the seeds and they prefer naphthalene to other chemicals in this purpose. Kalashnagari was found best among the three varieties in respect of germination percentage (49.33%) and length of the seedlings (5.428 cm). Despite of polythene bags, tin container showed better performance in storing of onion seeds by showing more germination capacity of seeds (43.82%), comparatively less infection by fungus (14.04%), less number of abnormal seedlings (11.24%) and good length of germinated seedlings (4.96 cm). Minimum weight loss (18.53%), maximum regeneration (89.37%) and maximum length of shoots (18.75 cm) was obtained from the bulbs stored in enclosed chamber in polythene bags, gunny bags and polythene bags respectively.