J. Expt. Biosci.

5(1):35-40, January 2014 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

EVALUATION OF JAPANESE BUNCHING ONION LINES AT SHER-E-BANGLA

AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

A.F.M. Jamal Uddin1*, M. Faisal1, M.Z.K. Roni1, M.S. Islam1 and H. Mehraj1
*Correspondence author: jamal4@yahoo.com

Abstract

The study was conducted at the Horticulture farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from December 2011 to May 2012 to evaluate the
performance of Japanese bunching onion (Allium fistulosum L.) lines in Bangladesh
condition. Three Japanese bunching onion lines viz. L1: White star, L2: Moto kura and L3:
Akahige or Red hero were tested in this study. The experiment was laid out in Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Statistically significant variation
was recorded for most of the characters of Japanese bunching onion lines. Tallest plant (60.7
cm), maximum number of leaves (8.3), maximum leaf area (333.0 cm), fresh weight of leaves
plant-1 (81.7 g), pseudostem length (13.2 cm), pseudostem diameter (20.8 mm), fresh weight
of pseudostem plant-1 (28.5 g), yield plot-1 (2.9 kg) of pseudostem and highest yield of
pseudostem (14.3 tha-1) were found in L2, whereas the lowest was recorded from L3. Moto
kura was found suitable for cultivation in Bangladesh.

Key words: Allium fistulosum, lines, growth and yield.

Introduction

Welsh onion or Negi or Japanese bunching onion (Allium fistulosum L.) belongs to the
Ameryllidaceae family (Fritsch and Friesen, 2002). Japanese bunching onion is one of the most
important vegetable crops in eastern Asia, especially in Japan, Korea, and China (Inden and Asahira,
1990). It was originated in Siberia and is very popular in the East where it is known as Japanese leek.
Japanese bunching onion can be grown in subtropical region. Its growth is vigorous in spring and
autumn and retards in summer and winter (Mansour, 1990). Negi or bunching onions can be easily
grown in any kind of well drained and organic matter rich soil (Maryati and Isnaini, 2011). Bunching
onion does not form a regular bulb of the common-onion type but produces a slightly thickened
pseudo-bulb. It is a new crop in Bangladesh and as it is similar to the onion in taste and flavor so it
can be used as alternatives of onion. The advantages of Japanese bunching onion cultivation are its
high resistance to low temperatures with minimum soil nutrient condition (Yamasaki et al., 2003; Su
et al., 2007), high nutritive value and unique flavor (Laziæ et al., 2002; Stainer et al., 2006; Tendaj
and Mysiak, 2007). Japanese bunching onion is particularly abundant in vitamin C, but also contains
other valuable compounds such as carotenoids, macro and micronutrients, especially Ca and K as well
as flavonoids (Kotlinska and Kojima, 2000; Higashio et al., 2007), which are potent antioxidants
(Mysiak and Tendaj, 2008). Normally, leaf blades contain more vitamin C, carotenoids, vitamins B1,
B2, niacin and minerals than the pseudo stem (Warade and Shinde, 1998). Many cultivars are
available for different latitudes and climatic conditions (Rubatzky and Yamaguchi, 1997). Different
line of Negi have different yield potentiality and these lines respond differently to input supply,
cultivation practices and the prevailing environment during the growing season. Considering the
above mentioned facts and based on the prior observation, an investigation was undertaken with the
objective to determine the suitable line of Japanese bunching onion in context of Bangladesh climatic
condition.

1
Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh

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Uddin et al.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted at the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka,
Bangladesh to observe the growth and yield of different Japanese bunching onion lines during the
period from December 2011 to May 2012. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete
Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The total area was divided into three equal blocks.
Each block was divided into 3 plots where 3 Japanese bunching onion lines viz. L1: White star; L2:
Moto kura and L3: Akahige or Red hero (Plate 1) were allotted at random.

Pseudostem

Plate 1. Three lines of Japanese bunching Onion

There were 9 unit plots altogether in the experiment. The size of the each plot was 2.0 m × 1.0 m. The
distance maintained between two blocks and two plots were 1.0 m and 0.5 m, respectively. Seeds
were sown in field on 15 December 2011 in line with maintaining the distance between line to line 20
cm and plant to plant 10 cm spacing that maintained through thinning up. Cowdung (10 ton ha-1), urea
(240 kg ha-1), TSP (220 kg ha-1), MOP (150 kg ha-1) and gypsum (110 kg ha-1) were used as
recommended by BARI for onion (Mondal et al., 2011). Entire cowdung, TSP, gypsum, ½ urea and ½
MOP were applied during final land preparation. Rest ½ urea and MP were applied at two
installments, 25 and 50 days after sowing. Irrigation, weeding and fungicides & insecticides spraying
were done as necessary to crop. Data were collected on plant height, leaf number, leaf area,
pseudostem length, pseudostem diameter, weight of leaves plant-1, weight of pseudostem plant-1 and
yield plot-1 also calculated the yield ha-1. Leaf area (single plant) was measured by using CL 202 leaf

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J. Expt. Biosci. 5(1):35-40, January 2014 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

area meter and diameter of pseudostem was measured with a Digital Caliper-515 (DC-515). Crop
was harvested at 180 days after sowing for measuring the yield. Yield ha-1 of pseudostem of was
calculated by calculating the weight of yield plot-1 into hectare and was expressed in ton. All
parameters were statistically analyzed by using MSTAT-C program. Mean for all the treatments was
calculated, analysis of variance for each of the characters was performed by F-test and difference
between treatments was evaluated by Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 5% level of significance
(Gomez and Gomez, 1984).

Results and Discussion

Leaf number: Maximum number of leaves plant-1 was found from L2 (8.3) which was statistically
similar with L1 (8.2) while the minimum from L3 (7.2) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1a). Variety itself influenced
the number of leaves plant-1. Eugeniusz et al. (2012) reported maximum number of leaves 5.7 from an
earlier experiment.

Plant height: Tallest plant was recorded from L2 (60.7 cm) whereas the shortest from L3 (55.1 cm) at
160 DAS (Fig. 1b). Plant height is a genetical character and different lines/genotypes produced
different plant height on the basis of their varietal characters. Eugeniusz et al. (2012) reported highest
plant height 53.1 cm which are similar to the findings of this experiment.

Leaf area: Highest leaf area was observed from L2 (333.0 cm2) which was statistically identical with
L1 (329.2 cm2) while the lowest from L3 (300.0 cm2) at 160 DAS (Fig. 2a).

Pseudostem length: Longest pseudostem was observed from L2 (13.2 cm) which was statistically
similar with L1 (13.0 cm) whereas shortest from L3 (11.8 cm) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1c). Eugeniusz et al.
(2012) reported highest length of pseudostem 14.1 cm which are similar to the findings of this
experiment.

Pseudostem diameter: Highest diameter of pseudostem was observed from L2 (20.8 mm) which was
statistically identical with L1 (20.6 mm) whereas lowest from L3 (18.6 mm) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1d).
Management practices influence the diameter of pseudostem but variety itself also manipulated it.
Eugeniusz et al. (2012) reported highest pseudostem diameter 17.3 mm which are similar to the
findings of this experiment.

Fresh weight of leaves plant-1: Maximum weight of leaves plant-1 was recorded from L2 (81.7 g)
which was statistically similar with L1 (78.3 g) while minimum from L3 (74.2 g) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1e).

Fresh weight of pseudostem plant-1: Maximum weight of pseudostem was observed from L2 (28.5 g)
which was statistically similar with L1 (28.2 g) while minimum from L3 (24.7 g) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1f).
Different lines/varieties responded differently to input supply, method of cultivation and the
prevailing environment during the growing season although it was also governed by genetically.

Yield plot-1: The highest yield per plot (2.9 kg) was found from L2 which was statistically similar (2.8
kg) with L1, whereas the lowest yield per plot (2.5 kg) from L3 (Fig. 2b).

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Uddin et al.

11.0 70.0
(a) (b)

Plant height (cm).

Leaf number.
8.0 50.0

5.0 30.0

2.0 10.0
60 80 100 120 140 160 60 80 100 120 140 160

15.0

Diameter of pseudostem (mm).

25.0
(c) (d)
Length of pseudostem (cm).

12.0
20.0
9.0
15.0
6.0

3.0 10.0

0.0 5.0
60 80 100 120 140 160 60 80 100 120 140 160

90 36
(e) Weight of pseudostem (g). (f)
Weight of leaves (g).

60 24

30
12

0
0
60 80 100 120 140 160
60 80 100 120 140 160
Days after sowing (DAS)
Days after sowing (DAS)
L1 L2 L3
L1 L2 L3

Fig. 1. Performance of three Japanese bunching onion lines on (a) leaf number
plant-1, (b) plant height, (c) pseudostem length (d) pseudostem diameter
(e) weight of leaves plant-1 and (f) weight of pseudostem plant-1

400.0 (a) 16.0 (b) 4.0

300.0
Yield (kg)/ha.
Yield (ton)/ha.

Yield (kg/plot)
Leaf area (cm2 )

14.0 3.0

200.0

12.0 2.0
100.0

0.0 10.0 1.0

60 80 100 120 140 160 L1 L2 L3
Days after sowing (DAS) Japanese bunch onion lines
L1 L2 L3 Yield (ton)/ha Yield
Yield (kg/plot)
(kg)/plot

Fig. 2. Performance of three Japanese bunching onion lines on (a) leaf area and
(b) yield

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J. Expt. Biosci. 5(1):35-40, January 2014 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

Yield ha-1: The highest yield ha-1 (14.3 ton) of negi was observed from L2 which was statistically
similar (14.1 ton) with L1, while the lowest yield ha-1 (12.4 ton) from L3 (Fig. 2b). Kretschmer (2002)
reported that varieties ‘BGS180’, ‘Hytech’, ‘BGS162’, and ‘BGS173’. For ‘BGS180’ a high yield.
Eugeniusz et al. (2012) reported highest marketable yield 16.14 ton from earlier experiment.

Performance of all the Japanese bunching onion lines was very good. However, considering the
findings of the present experiment, it may be concluded that Moto kura Japanese bunching onion lines
showed significantly better performance compare to the other lines used in this experiment. So,
Japanese bunching onion could be successfully grown in Bangladesh environment which would
partially supplement the onion requirement of the country. However, for confirmation of the present
findings, multi-location field trials are needed.

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