Effect of different Spacing and Transplanting Dates on Growth and Yield of Onion (Allium cepa. L) var. Agrifound Light Red

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Onion & Garlic Research and Development Centre, National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation, Talaja, Bhavnagar (Gujarat) during Rabi season of 2011-12 for evaluating the effect of spacing and transplanting dates on growth and yield of onion. The experiment was layout in a Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications and 15 treatment combinations, comprising of 5 levels of transplanting dates (P₁:5^thDecember, P₂:15^thDecember, P₃:25^th December, P₄:5^thJanuary and P₅:15^thJanuary) and three levels of spacing (S₁: 7.5x15 cm, S₂: 10x15 cm, S₃: 12.5x15 cm).Results revealed that among the different dates of transplanting, early planting P₂ (15^thDecember) recorded the highest vegetative growth, marketable yield and total yield. Among the different spacing, S₁ (7.5 x 15 cm) showed significant effect on marketable yield, total yield and number of bulb harvested per plot as compared to remaining treatments.

Different transplanting dates and spacing indicated significant effect on different characters viz; plant height, polar diameter, equatorial diameter and number of leaves per plant but failed to show significant effect on days to maturity, % bolters, % Doubles bulb and T.S.S. Onion cv. Agrifound Light Red transplanted on 15^thDecember and 7.5 x 15 cm spacing significantly improved the number of bulbs harvested per plot, marketable yield and total yield.

Keywords: - spacing, planting, varieties, yield