Hort-401

ONION
 ONION
• Allium cepa
• Family
– Amaryllidaceae/
Alliaceae
– 300 species
– Other relatives are
Garlic, shallot, chives,
leek
• Chromosome Number
– 2n = 16
 Uses
• Onions have been cultivated and used as food throughout history.

• Often termed as poor man’s food.

• Consumed at green stage as well as when bulbs are mature

• Due to distinctive flavor, used in soups, meat dishes, salads and

sandwiches.

• Can also be cooked alone.

• Pungency is due to allyl propyl disulphide.

• Mature bulbs contain some starch, appreciable quantities of

sugars, some proteins and vitamins A, B, and C.
 Production Statistics
• Cultivated in Pakistan
• Area
– 130.5 thousand hectares
• Production
– 1.67 million tonnes
• Average yield
– 12.80 tonnes/hectare

• Share of different Provinces

– Punjab and KPK plains---13%
– KPK uplands----------------16%
– Balochistan------------------26%
– Sindh----------------------------45%
 Major Onion Growing Areas In Pakistan

• Sindh (45%)
– Ghotki, Naushehro Feroze, Nawabshah, Sangar,
Hyderabad, Shikarpur.
• Balochistan (25%)
– Mastung, Kallat and Chaghi.
• KPK ((13%)
– Swat and Dir
• Punjab (17%) mainly in southern part
– Khanewal, Vehari, Okara D.G. Khan, Bahawalpur and
R.Y. Khan
 Plant Characteristics
• Roots are thick and sparsely branched as
compared to most of other vegetable crops.
– Tap root is found in plants raised through seed but
degenerate with 2-3 week.
– All the roots are adventitious and lack root hairs.
– Mostly confined to a depth of 6-8 inches.
– Can extract water only from the top 25 cm of soil.

• Bulb is the edible portion

– concentric, enlarged swollen leaf sheaths (Scales)

• Stem: lack true stem

– Hollow green leaves form the stem.
– Actual stem is a compressed disc
 Plant Characteristics
• Leaves are
– divided into leaf blades and sheaths
– of three types
• Sheath leaves (protective skin of bulb)
• Bladeless leaves (swollen bulb scales which are the
main storage organ) and
• Sprout leaves (produce new leaves when bulb
sprouts)

• Flower: Compound umbel, formed on an

elongated stem (Scape)
– 1-2 m long
– 200-600 flowers per umbel
Flowering in Onion
 Climatic Requirements
• Cool-season biennial crop.

• Plant growth and development is affected by day length, varieties vary in their
response.

• Only well acclimatized varieties should be grown in a particular agro-climatic

zone.

• Bulb formation in most of the Pakistani cultivars occur at relatively warm

temperatures and long photoperiods

• For seed production temperature is more important than daylength.

• Growth can occur at temperature ranging from 13 to 25 °C

• For optimum seedling growth: 20-25 °C

• At 25 °C seedling emerges in 4 days

 Land Preparation
• Soil should be fertile, rich in humus and well drained.
– Sandy loam

• Sensitive to high acidity; pH 6.0-7.0

• The field is ploughed to fine tilth

– by four to five ploughing with a sufficient interval between
two ploughing.
– ploughing should be shallow.

• Planking should be done for proper levelling. The field

is then divided into beds and channels.
 Method of Planting

1. Sets
2. Transplants
3. Direct seeding
• Small dry bulbs
SETS
– 2-3 g fresh weight
– 1-2 cm in diameter

• Produced in previous season by over seeding

– 1000-2000 plants/m2

• Seed rate for raising nursery is 30-40 kg/acre

• Seedlings are transplanted on flat beds at a spacing of 5 x 15 cm.

• Sown in February and harvested with normal onion crop (May).

• These small bulbs are sown in July-August @ 1000-1200 kg/ha.

• Spacing is 15 X 45-75 cm.

 Production of Transplants/
Nursery Raising
• Widely used method of onion production in
temperate, tropical and sub-tropical areas.

• Reduces the risk of crop failure due to Onion Nursery bed

weather/soil conditions

• Ensures uniform crop stand at desired spacing

• Growing period is lengthened in temperate

areas if this method is used.

• Nursery, seed rate is 8-10 kg/ha.

• Transplanted on both sides of ridges when 8-10

week old
Onion seedlings
• Spacing 10 X 60-75 cm. transplanted in field
 Broadcasting in Beds/Direct Sowing
• For broadcasting directly in the field or sowing in the row, 25 kg
seeds per hectare are used.

• After sowing, hand hoeing is done to allow the seeds to reach to a

depth of 2.5-3 cm.

• Hand watering or light irrigation is given immediately after

covering the seeds.

• R X R = 60-75 cm
• P X P = 10 cm
 Planting Time
• Vary with locality, cultivar and method of propagation

• Sets
– Raised in February
– Plated out in July-August for bulb production

• Nursery raised/direct seeded crop

– Plains
• Early crop---Nursery in June to Sept., transplanted in Jul-Oct.
• Normal crop--- Nursery in mid Oct to end Nov, transplanted in
Dec. to early Jan.

– Hills
• March to June
 Irrigation
• Depends on soil type, environmental conditions and
crop stage.

• Crop is irrigated immediately after transplanting.

• Frequent and light irrigations at weekly interval

results in good bulb development and increased yield.

• During bulb formation, irrigation is necessary as

moisture stress at this stage results in low yield,
splitting and forced maturity.

• Last irrigation should be given 10-15 days before

harvesting to reduce storage losses.

• Furrow irrigation, drip irrigation depending on soil

type.
 Fertilizer
• The fertilizer dose depends upon the fertility of
soil and amount of organic manure applied to
the crop.

• Generally, application (on per hectare basis)

• N= 120 kg
• P= 60 kg
• K= 60 kg
• FYM= 40-50 tonnes
 Weed Control
• The field should be kept weed-free, especially in the initial stage
of plant growth (slow growth rate).

• Weeding is recommended at 10 days interval.

• Being closely planted and a shallow rooted crop, hand weeding

particularly when crop is at full vegetative stage, is difficult and
expensive.

• It is recommended to use weedicide along with one hand

weeding at critical stage.

• Application of Oxyfluorfen @ 15ml/10 litres of water 3 days

after transplanting followed by one hand weeding 45 days after
transplanting effectively controls the weed population..
 Varieties
• Phulkara
• Nasar Puri
• Red Nasik
• Faisalabad Early
• Desi Red
• Dark Red
• Pindi Red
• Local White
 How to Harvest Onions
• Can be harvested as green-onions or when bulbs are mature.

• Ready for harvesting a week or two after the foliage starts to

turn brown and shrivel up.

• For storage, should be harvested when 50% or more of the

tops have fallen.

• For fresh market, 15-20% of tops have fallen.

• Bulbs are cut from root system, then dug out for curing.

• Spring onions (green onions) should be harvested when about

45cm (18 inch) high and eaten within a day or so.
Falling of Tops
 Curing
• The only post-harvest treatment required for the long storage of
bulb onions is a thorough curing of the bulbs.

• Curing is a drying process intended to dry off the necks and outer
scale leaves of the bulbs to prevent
– the loss of moisture and
– decay during storage.

• The essentials for curing are heat and good ventilation, preferably
with low humidity.

• Onions are considered cured when neck is tight and the outer
scales are dried until they rustle (crackling sound).
– This condition is reached when onions have lost 3 to 5% of their fresh
weight.
• If onions cannot be dried in the field, they can be
collected in trays, which are then stacked in a warm,
covered area with good ventilation.

• In cool, damp climates, onions in bulk ventilated

stores are dried with artificial heat blown through the
bulk at a duct temperature of 30 °C.

• Onions can also be cured by tying the tops of the

bulbs in bunches and hanging them on a horizontal
pole in a well-ventilated shades.

• Curing in shade improves bulb colour and reduces

losses significantly during storage.
 Storage
• Placed in cold storage at temperature 0-1 °C
with RH at 60 to 70%.

• High temperature storage is also possible at 25

°C in tropical and subtropical areas.

• Air exchange in cooling facility is extremely

important.

• When removed from storage, condition the bulbs

for several days at 20 °C with 50% RH.
 Yield
• Irrigated onion crop gives yield of 25-30 t/ha.

• Under rainfed conditions it yields only about 0.7-1.0 t/ha.

• Onion raised as an intercrop in sugarcane and turmeric, in

alleys of young fruit garden and banana garden, gives a
yield of 5.0-8.5 t/ha.

• The small sized, pungent, local cluster type onion yields

half as compared to the large sized varieties.
Supply of Onion from Different Provinces

• Punjab and KPK plains

– June-July
• KPK uplands
– August-September
• Balochistan
– August-October
• Sindh
– November-May
Diseases
 Seedling Diseases
Damping-Off
• The disease is usually caused by Pythium,
Rhizoctonia or Fusarium fungi, either alone or
in combination.

• Cold, wet soils often encourage the development

of damping-off symptoms very early in the
seedlings' growth.

• Seedlings may fall over and die as a result of

breakdown of plant tissues at the soil line.
Sometimes damping-off occurs even before the
seedling emergence.

• Damping-off can occur in the field, or in the

greenhouse if conditions are too wet.
Onion Smut
• Caused by the soil-borne fungus Urocystis
cepulae and infects the flag leaf (cotyledon)
as it grows through the soil.

• Infested plants show gray streaks.

• Often the seedling survives this initial

infection and the characteristic black streaks
and blisters appear on the leaves and small
bulbs later in the growing season as the
fungus moves from the infected flag leaf to
younger leaves.

• The disease is spread when contaminated

soil or set onions are transferred to smut-free
area.

• Seed treatments can reduce losses and

growing onions from transplants avoids the
disease.
 Downy Mildew
• Downy mildew of onions is caused by the
air-borne fungus Peronospora destructor.

• Destroy the onion crop very quickly in

favourable conditions.

• The first sign of downy mildew is a purple-

grey, velvety growth on green leaves
(most easily seen in the early morning).

• The disease often starts in patches and is

favoured by cool (less than 22°C), humid
weather.

• Diseased leaves quickly turn pale-green,

then yellow, and collapse and die.
 Bulb Diseases
Neck Rot
• Caused by various species of Botrytis fungi
including B. aclada, B. byssoidea and B.
squamosa.

• Usually appear in storage.

• Some necks may become soft and rotten

immediately before harvest.

• There is usually a separation between healthy and

diseased scales within the bulb.

• As the disease progresses, the tissue becomes

greyish and a grey mold may also develop.

• Ensure that curing and storage conditions are

ideal.
Bacterial Soft Rot
Pests
• Onion Thrips

• The most important insect pests of onions.

• Numerous nymphs and adults are observed between
leaf sheaths and stems, sucking the exuding cell sap.
• The affected leaves show silvery blotches which
later turn into brownish colour.
• The leaves get distorted from tips downwards and
plant ultimately wilt and dry away.

• Control:
– Confidor, Sanitox (dimethoate)
Onion Maggot

• The adults of this insect appear like housefly. The flies

lay their eggs on old leaves or on soil and larva enters
into soil and damage disc portion of onion bulb.
• Infested plants turn yellowish brown and finally dry
up. The affected bulbs rot in storage.
• Control:
– Regular crop rotation should be followed.

– Thimet should be applied in the soil before

transplanting.
Cutworms
• The larvae of this insect are seen in nursery beds and
newly transplanted onion fields.
• The tender plants are found damped at ground level
during the night
• Young larvae are yellowish grey and later on
become brown, greasy to touch and coil when
disturbed. They cut the seedlings at ground level
during night and hide during day.
Control:
– Soil application of Carbofuran (1kg a.i./ha) at the time
of planting is recommended.
– Chlorpyriphos (5ml/litre of water) also gives good
control of this pest