Production technology of Onion

Introduction
• Scientific name: Allium cepa
• Family: Alliaceae
• Chromosome no: 2n=2x=16
• Origin: central asia
• Allium is greek word
• Onion belongs to monocotyledon family
• Cool season crop
• Shallow rooted crop
HO 2014

HO 2019
 Area and production
• Leading producer of onion in the world: china
• India is the 2nd largest producer of onion in the world
• India: area 8.06 lakh/ha and production Maharashtra
• Highest productivity of onion in india: Madhya pradesh
• Leading state in onion area and production Maharashtra
• Lassalgon in maharashtra is the biggest onion market in india
• 77% total foreign exchange among fresh vegetables
 Research centre
• National research centre for onion and garlic (NRCOG) is
located at Nasik, maharashtra
• New name of NRCOG, project directorate on onion and garlic
(PDOG), rajagurunagar, Maharashtra: 2008
• National horticultural research development foundation
(NHRDF), Nasik, maharashtra
 Importance
• Pungency in onion is due to voltaile oil- allylpropyl disulfide
• Yellow colour of the outer skin of onion bulb is due to
“quercetin”
• Onion is richest source of vanadium
• Onion is used against sun stroke
• Onion contains an enzyme is called ‘allinase’
 Different species

1) Ancestor of onion allium vavilovii

2)Potato onion/underground onion/multiplier/Egyptian onion:
allium cepa var. aggregatum- propagated through small bulbs
3)Tree onion/top onion/egyptian tree onion: allium cepa var.
Viviparum /proliferum-propagated through bulb-lets
4)Chive: allium schoenoprasam –propagated through root
division and tolerant to extreme cold and drought
5)Pran(allium x cornutum) is triploid (2n=3x= 24)
 Botany
• Onion is biennial herb
• Flowering structure is called an ‘umbel’
• Through individual flowers are hermaphrodite
• They are cross pollinated due to protandry its achieved by
honey bees
• Red onion more pungent than white onion
 Climate and soil
• Optimum temperature for onion bulb development: 15.5-21C
• Optimum temperature for onion seed germination: 20-25C
• Optimum temperature for floral initiation: 10-12C
• Bolting means seed stalks initiation and development
• Temperature is important for seed production
• Day length is important for bulb production
• For flower formation – requires short day
• For bulb formation- requires long day
• Onion prefers well dranied, loose and friable soil rich in
humus
• It is sensitive to high acidity and alkalinity
• pH- 5.8-6.5

HO 2019
HO 2012
 Varieties
• Palam lohit – new onion variety
• Pusa riddhi – high antioxidant variety
• Pusa soumya – 1st bunching onion variety
• Pusa white round – white onion, suitable for drying
• Pusa sona – yellow colour variety
• Arka akshay (syn-4) – synthetic variety
• Arka raj – dark red
• Bhima kiran
• Phule safed – white onion
• Phule swarma – yellow onion
• Arka kalayan – selection – moderately resistant to purple
blotch & suitable for kharif season
• Arka bheem (syn-6) – synthetic variety
• Arka ujjwal
• Arka pitambhar(short day plant)- suitable for kharif and rabi
seasons, yellow color, tolerance to purple blotch, basal rot
diseases and thrips
• Arka lallima(F1) – tolerance to purple blotch, basal rot &
thrips
• Arka krithiman(F1)- F1 hybrid
 Important variety with specific purpose
• Multiplier onion variety: CO- 1,2,3,4, MDU-1, agrifound red
• White onion variety have low TSS: 10-14%
• Onion variety suitable hilly areas: brown spanish,,white
spanish, cream gold and early lockyar brown
• Yellow coloured onion bulb varieties: early grano
• Onion variety suitable for export: red creole, granex, bombay
red, yellow bermuda, patna red
HO 2019
• Resistant to thrips: N-53 and pusa ratnar
• Onion variety is suited for both kharif and rabi season: arka
niketan, arka pragathi
• Onion variety suitable for kharif season: arka kalyan,
agrifound dark red, baswant-180, N-53
• Onion are suitable for export, particulary to malaysia and
singapore: arka bindu and agrifound rose
HO 2023
 Cultivation practies
• Seed rate:
1) rabi: 10-12kg/ha
2)kharif: 12-15kg/ha
• Seed rate varies from 8 to 10 kg/ha
• 10-12 quintals of bulbs are required plant one hectare onion

HO 2014
• Seed viabilty: 1 year
• In plains, seeds are sown during october- november for a rabi
crop
• In hills seeds are sown from mar – june
• Best planting density for onion cultivation: 15cm x 8-10cm
• Premature harvest form a thick neck bulb
• Flower induction: GA3 @ 300ppm
• Zinc application @ 1-3 ppm increase quality and yield
• Best time to harvest rabi onion is 1 week after 50-70% neck
fall
• Yield and harvesting season:
1) rabi: 25-30t/ha(april to may)
2)kharif: 15-20t/ha (jan to feb)
• 15-25 tonnes of bulbs are expected from one hectare of
transplanted crop
• Storage losses of onion: 40-50%
• Onion post- harvest losses: 30-60%
• Reduction of sprouting: gamma rays @ 60Gy
• Best storage temperature is 0C at 60-75% RH
HO 2023
• Onion bulbs stored at- 0-4.5C
• Ideals TSS content for dehydration industry >18%
• Desirable drying ratio for onion: 6:1
• Indian varieties have drying ratio 10:1
• Processing shrinkage ratio: 7:1 to 17:1 with moisture content
of 4%
AAO 2021
• Ideal pyruvic acid for dehydration industry – 0.502-0.70%
• For getting best quality onion seed,seed to seed method is
followed
• Average seed yield: 800-850kg/ha
• Isolation distance – 1000-1600m for foundation seeds and
500m for certified seeds
• Curing
1) In kharif season, bulbs are cured for 2-3 weeks along with top
2) In rabi, bulbs are cured in field for 3-5 dyas tops are cut
leaving 2.0-2.5cm above bulb and again cured for 7-10days to
remove field heat
 Storage
• A pre- harvest spray of maleic hydrazide (2000-2500 ppm)
prevents rotting and sprouting of bulbs stored at room
temperature (now banned)
• At BARC, trombay irradiation of bulbs with very low
does(4000-9000krads) of gamma rays

HO 2012

HO 2014
 Diseases
• Purple blotch – alternaria porri – seed borne, serious foliar
diseases. Resistant variety- arka kalyan
• Black mould – aspergillus niger – most common post harvest
storage diseaes
• Yellow dwarf – MLOs – vector- aphids or mechanical
• Downy mildew – peronospora destructor
• Onion smut – urocystis capsulae- soil borne disease
• Aster yellow – virus
AAO 2017
 Pests
• Onion thrips – thrips tabaci – major pest in the world. Silvery
apperance of leaves from tip to down
• Onion fly – delia antique
• Onion mite – aceria tulipae
 Nematode
• Onion bulb and stem nematode – ditylenchus dipsaci
 Multiplier onion
• Allium cepa var, aggregatum (2n=2x =16)

• TNAU onion varieties: Co.1, Co.2, Co.3, Co.4, and CO (on) 5

and
• CO.1- bulbs large and pink, 7-9 bulbs/clump, yield 9-10 t/ha in
85 days
• CO.2- bulbs large and crimson, 7-9bulbs/clumb yield 12 t/ha
in 65-70days
• CO.3 – bulbs pink with a weight of 75 g, 8-10 bulbs / plant,
moderately resistant to thrips, good storage quality, yield 15.8
t/ha in 65 days
• CO.4- Bulks atrractive light pink, 9-13 bulbs/ plant. Average
weight 90 g/lump. Yield 19t/ha in 65 days
• CO (on) 5 – high bulb yield (18.91 t/ha), free flowering and
high seed setting abilty propagation through seeds
• Under tamil nadu condition, bulbs are planted during apr-may
• 1500kg of bulbs are required to plant one hectare
• Yield varies from 10-15 t/ha with a crop duration of 2-3
months.