Effect of Different Varieties and Planting Time on Kharif Onion Production in Lower Shivalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of varieties and planting time on kharif onion production under low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh at Research Farm of the Institute of Biotechnology and Environmental Science (Dr. Y.S. Parmar, University of Horticulture and Forestry), Neri, Hamirpur for two consecutive seasons (2011 & 2012). The farm is located at an altitude of 620 m above mean sea level with average mean maximum and minimum temperature levels of 31.30 C and 12.40 C, respectively and is a representative site of low hill region of Himachal Pradesh. Four cultivars of onion viz. N-53, Nasik Red, Agrifound Dark Red (AFDR) and Agrifound Light Red (AFLR) were transplanted on six dates at ten days interval starting from 5th July to 25th August. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications for each treatment. Healthy seedlings were transplanted on raised beds at a spacing of 15 x 10 cm in plots of 3.0 x 3.0 m2. Recommended cultural practices were followed during investigation to raise the crop successfully. All the observations pertaining to traits viz. plant height (cm), neck thickness (cm), bulb diameter (cm), bulb weight (g), days for harvesting, and yield (q/ha) were taken by randomly selecting twenty healthy plants from each plot. Standard package and practices were followed for raising the crop as per the recommendations of the University. The maximum bulb diameter (5.50 cm was ()ng to bulb diameter showed that all the variables had significant effect on bulb diameter. the ing 2011 ) and highest bulb weight (64.37 g) among cultivars was noticed in cultivar Agrifound Dark Red. There was a significant effect of both by varieties and transplanting dates. The highest average yield (229.03 q/ha) was observed in cultivar AFDR. The highest bulb yield (197.54 q/ha) among transplanting dates was noted on third transplanting date D3 (25 th July). Therefore it can be summarized that cultivar Agrifound Dark Red is the best suited cultivar for kharif onion production in lower Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh and it should be transplanted around 25th July for maximization of bulb yield.

Onion is the most important crop among various alliums grown in India for thousands of years now.It occupies an area of 10,52,000 ha with a total production of 1,68,13,000MT and an average productivity of 16.0 MT/ha (9).There has been a steady increase in area and production of onions in the last decade.The beneficial compound called quercetin present in onion has shown to be a powerful antioxidant.A phyto-chemical allium and allyl disulphide are found in onion which converts into allicin when its modified leaves are crushed.Studies have shown that that these compounds have anti-mutagenic properties.Allicin reduces cholesterol production by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase enzyme in the liver cells.(6).
Besides the traditional Rabi crop (winter season), the Kharif crop (rainy season) is now being grown successfully in the north and eastern parts of the country which has revolutionized the onion production and marketing in the country.The rabi crop harvested in April-May is stored all over the country and slowly made available for domestic supply as well as export up to September-October.There is critical gap in supply of onion in the country from October to March and as a result the prices shoot up.A good harvest in kharif season can bridge the gap between demand and supply of onion during this dearth period.Further, production of onion during kharif season offers a good alternative to the farmers for obtaining higher returns.(12) Low and mid hill areas of Himachal Pradesh are perfectly suitable for onion cultivation.Number of farmers has taken up this venture on commercial scale but focus is on the main season crop which does not fetch good price in the market.Onion is photo-thermo sensitive crop and thus time of planting varies from region to region.In Maharashtra best time of planting for kharif onion is July to August and in northern plains it is mid or end of August whereas in West Bengal and Orissa transplanting is done as late as August to September (11).Though some work has been done by various agencies on standardization of production technology of kharif onion but only few reports are available for the state.Moreover, the kharif onion production has never been taken up as an enterprise by the farmers of the district.Therefore present studies were conducted to find out the effect of varieites and their transplanting time to make onion production during kharif season a success in low hills of the state.

maTEriaLS anD mETHODS
An experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2011 and 2012 to study effect of different varieties and planting time on kharif onion production in lower Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh.The experimental site is located at an altitude of 620 m above mean sea level with latitude 31 o 682 N and longitude 76 o 522 E. The mean minimum and maximum temperature ranges between 12.4 0 C to 31.3 0 C and average humidity remains around 60.91%.The soil in the experimental area was clay loam with a pH of 6.6 and had 0.38 % organic matter content.Four cultivars of onion viz.N-53, Nasik Red, Agrifound Dark Red (AFDR) and Agrifound Light Red (AFLR) were transplanted on six dates at ten days interval starting from 5 th July to 25 th August.
The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications for each treatment.Eight weeks old healthy seedlings were transplanted on raised beds at a spacing of 15 x 10 cm in plots of 3.0 x 3.0 m 2 .Recommended cultural practices were followed during investigation to raise the crop successfully.All the observations pertaining to traits viz.plant height (cm), neck thickness (cm), bulb diameter (cm), weight of bulb(g) , days for harvesting and yield were taken by randomly selecting twenty healthy seedlings from each plot.The bulb yield was noted on plot basis.The data obtained during two years was pooled according to the standard procedure given by Gomez and Gomez (5).

rESuLTS anD DiScuSSiOn
The results pertaining to growth and yield of kharif onion as affected by varieties and transplanting dates are presented in table 1 to 6.There was a significant difference in the plant height among the varieties during both the years under study.The  this trait was recorded on the first transplanting date (5 th July).Rest all effects and their interaction were statistically non-significant.The effect of varieties and Variety x Date interaction on neck diameter was found to be non-significant.
The lowest number of days harvesting (127.60 days) were observed in the cultivar AFLR and was significantly lower than Nasik Red (137.50 days).It was observed that delay in date of transplanting resulted in early maturity of onion bulbs.The highest days to maturity (142.00 days ) were observed on first date of transplanting (5 th July) whereas lowest days to harvest (121.80 days) were recorded on last transplanting date (25 th August).The interaction effect of variety x date was also found to be significant for days to harvest with maximum values (149.00days) in combination V 2 D 1 (Nasik Red x 5 th July) and minimum value (117.00days) in combination V 4 D 6 (AFLR x 25 th August).
Perusal of data pertaining to bulb diameter (Table 4) showed that all the variables had significant effect on bulb diameter.The maximum bulb diameter value (5.50 cm) was noticed in cultivar Agrifound Dark Red.Mohanty and Prusti (8) obtained similar results when they evaluated the performance of common onion varieties in kharif season.They observed highest (5.00 cm) bulb diameter which was significantly higher than N-53 (4.90 cm) and Nasik Red (4.60 cm).The values of bulb diameter in cultivars N-53 and Nasik Red were statistically at par with each other.The highest bulb diameter was noted on third date of transplanting i.e. 25 th July (5.41 cm).Earlier or delayed transplanting resulted in lower bulb diameter.The highest values of variety x date interaction (5.68 cm) was observed in combination V 3 D 3 (AFDR x 25 th July).
The weight of the bulb is directly proportional to bulb diameter.The highest bulb weight among cultivars was noted in cultivar AFDR (64.37 g) and the other two cultivars had bulb weight statistically at par with each other.The effect of transplanting dates followed similar trend as noted in case of bulb diameter and highest bulb weight (67.45 g,) was noted on D 3 (25 th July).Transplanting before or after 25 th July resulted in lower weight of the bulb.The interaction effect of variety x date was higher in combination V 3 D 3 (75.34g).
Both varieties and transplanting time were observed to produce significant effect on bulb yield.The highest average yield (229.03 q/ ha) was observed in cultivar AFDR.Whereas the lowest yield 168.36 q/ha was observed in AFLR.Similarly, the highest bulb yield (197.54 q/ha) among different transplanting dates was recorded on third transplanting date D 3 (25 th July).Planting of setts on dates earlier (July) or after (September) this resulted in reduced bulb production.Transplanting in July was accompanied by higher sprouting of setts and better growth of the plants.Neerja et al (10), also observed that enhanced crop growth rate of onion resulted in efficient metabolism, thereby increased the sink capacity.Sharma et al. (13) and Kandil et al. (7) also advocated the role of transplanting dates on growth and yield of onion.Bhagchandani et.al. (1) had also reported better performance of AFDR for kharif onion production. .Similar results were also reported by Devet. al. (2005), who observed that highest yield of onion (195.86q/ha) in cultivar N-53 was obtained when it was transplanted in second fortnight of July under Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh conditions.The interaction effect of variety x date for bulb yield was also significant and the highest values (237.13 q/ ha) were observed in treatment combination V 3 D 3 (AFDR and 25 th July).

cOncLuSiOn
In the present investigations it was noticed that maximum values for yield contributing traits like bulb diameter, bulb weight and total yield were obtained in cultivar Agrifound Dark Red.All the varieties produced maximum yield when transplanted on the third date of transplanting i.e. 25 th July.Therefore it can be summarized that cultivar Agrifound Dark Red is the best suited cultivar for Kharif onion production in lower hills of Himachal Pradesh and it should be transplanted around 25 th July for maximization of bulb yield.

2: Onion cultivar aFDr after harvest maximum
plant height (54.55 cm) was observed in cultivar Nasik Red followed by AFDR (54.15 cm).The plant height in these two cultivars was statistically at par with each other and significantly higher than N-53 (43.69 cm).A continuous decrease in plant height was observed with delay in transplanting.Highest plant height (55.06 cm) was observed on D 1 (5 th July), whereas the minimum plant height (47.64 cm) was recorded on date D 4 (25 th August).This might be attributed to longer growth period of early planted crop before the initiation of bulb development.