Abstract
In the coming years, it is expected that the European Union countries will increase their interest in the use of the Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum L.). It is a little-known vegetable from the Far East. Consequently, growers might be asking their extension advisors increasingly about its seed physiology and commercial production. This article provides basic information on the origin of the species, its botanical characteristics, the main breeding directions and achievements, seed production methods and areas, main plant breeding and seed production companies, seed dormancy and the best methods for seed storage, use of the crop and market responses to promotion activities.
Highlights
A large number of experiments showed that ultradry seed moisture content treatment had a positive effect on the storage duration of Welsh onion seeds [23,25,26,27,35]
It was further reported that the seed moisture content should not be reduced below 2.0% during storage, as such moisture content would cause a decrease of seed vigour [25]
The results showed that the ultradry treatment could be widely used for the seeds of many cultivars of Welsh onion, different cultivars had different response to the ultradry treatment [27]
Summary
The Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum L.) is called stone leek, Chinese onion, Chinese spring onion and Japanese bunching onion It has been much less known in the world than the traditional onion, A. cepa [1]. They all differ in morphological and useful traits, such as number, size and colour of leaves, taste, earliness and overwintering potential. The traditional breeding directions of the newly developed Welsh onion cultivars were at that time different from the present ones. All newly bred Welsh onion cultivars had to have frost resistance to be able to survive winter and were cultivated for some years (as a perennial crop), but they had to possess high vigour and drought resistance.
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