The influence of onion (Allium cepa L.) mother bulb production conditions on subsequent plant growth and seed quality

Abstract

The late planting of onions practiced by farmers has decreased the yield and quality of onion seed. This experiment was conducted during 2019 and 2020 at agricultural research farm of Kabul University to study the effect of mother bulb production conditions on subsequent plant growth and seed yield and quality. The study was designed in Randomized Complete Block Design and data for different agronomic traits, flowering habits, seed yield and seed quality were recorded. The recorded data were statistically analyzed with STAR software. The highest leaf area per plant (994.38 cm²) and leaf area index (0.83) were recorded for the plants obtained from mother bulbs grown on 10^th March in deep ploughed flat beds. The highest number of flowering stalks per plant (3.83) was recorded for the plants produced from the mother bulbs grown on 10^th March in shallow ploughed double row raised beds, it was on far with the plants obtained from the mother bulbs grown on 10^th March in deep ploughed flat beds. The highest seed yield (737.27 Kg/Ha) was recorded for the plants obtained from mother bulbs grown on 10^th March in shallow ploughed flat beds. This was on far with the seed yield of the plants obtained from the mother bulbs grown on 10^th March in deep ploughed flat beds. The results reveal that, mother bulbs produced under early planting dates and deep ploughed flat-bed conditions are more appropriate to produce vigorous plants and higher seed yield of onion.

Keywords: Flowering stalks, Growth response, Seed germination, Seed yield