Storability study of different short-day onion (Allium cepa L.) genotypes/varieties

Abstract

A total of 25 short-day onion genotypes along with two recommended varieties viz. BARI Piaz-1 and BARI Piaz-4 were evaluated for 5 and ½ months at the bamboo-made ambient storage. The study was conducted at Spices Research Sub-Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Faridpur, Bangladesh in 2020 with the geographic coordinates- 23̊ 11̍ N and 89̊ 09̍ E. for assessing their storability. All genotypes in the trial were evaluated under 25 accession lines such as AC Bog 409, AC Bog 410, AC Bog 411, AC Bog 412, AC Bog 413, AC Bog 414, AC Bog 415, AC Bog 416, AC Bog 417, AC Bog 419, AC Bog 420, AC Bog 421, AC Bog 422, AC Bog 423, AC Bog 424, AC Bog 425, AC Bog 426, AC Bog 427, AC Bog 428, AC Bog 429, AC Bog 430, AC Bog 431, AC Bog 433, AC Bog 434 and AC Bog 435. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications. The storage data were recorded periodically at 20 days interval (20 May, 08 June, 27 June, 16 July, 04 August, 23 August, 11 September, 30 September and 19 October) on rotting (%), sprouting (%), physiological loss in weight (PLW, %) and total loss (%) of bulbs. The results revealed that the genotypes/varieties had significant difference on the rotting, sprouting, PLW and total loss of bulbs. The genotype AC Bog 430 showed the lowest cumulative rotting loss (10.47%) but AC Bog 429 exhibited the highest cumulative rotting loss (39.47%). The maximum and minimum cumulative sprouting losses were recorded from AC Bog 434 (23.03%) and AC Bog 429 (1.47%). The BARI Piaz-1 had the lowest cumulative PLW (19.39%). However, the AC Bog 420 had the highest cumulative PLW (44.68%). The highest and the lowest cumulative total losses were calculated from the AC Bog 433 (79.99%) and AC Bog 430 (44.62%). The rate of storage loss was higher in May to July than that of August to October. The rotting, sprouting, PLW and total losses were increased with the increase of the onion storage period. The average rotting, sprouting, PLW and total losses were 20.71%, 13.71%, 29.87% and 64.29%, respectively for 5 and ½ months storage of onion under the study. The storage capacity was not correlated with the skin colour of onion. The dry matter content of bulb was found partial associated with the storage capacity. Finally, under the present storability study, AC Bog 430 (44.62%), AC Bog 426 (45.28%), AC Bog 413 (47.13%) and BARI Piaz-1 (45.31%) showed good performance on the basis of total weight loss.