Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) - Sudan
Proceedings of the Meetings of the National Crop Husbandry Committee - NCHC
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Effect of plant
population and nutrition on yield and quality of onion in Kassala
Mohamed El Naseeh M. Osman
Abstract:
Prompted by the farmers practices in Kassala of growing onions at wide
spacing, as determined by the transplanting laborers, and applying
liberal amounts of urea, without using phosphate fertilizer, this work
was designed and executed at Kassala Research Farm to rectify these
management practices for better bulb yield and quality of the white
variety El Hilo onion. Two separate experiments were conducted.
Experiment I was conducted for three seasons to test the effect of 4
levels of nitrogen, viz. 0, 43, 86 and 129 kg N/ha at two plant
populations of 90 plants/m2 (5x20 cm) and 45 plants/m2 (10x20 cm).
Experiment II was conducted for four seasons to test the effect of NP
fertilizers. Planting at the closer spacing of 5x20 cm increased bulb
yield by 7.6% compared to 10x20 cm across the three seasons. Application
of nitrogen significantly increased the yield by 9.4-14.3% when 43 kg/ha
was applied. The increment in yield was negligible when further
applications were made. Likewise, yield response to phosphorus was
statistically significant, when 43 kg P2O5/ha was applied causing an
increase of 9.5%. Further addition of phosphorus had limited effect on
bulb yield. Although NP interaction was not significant, the combination
43 kg.N/ha + 43 kg P2O5/ha produced the highest economic bulb yield.
Nitrogen application increased bulbs size and reduced the incidence of
bolting. Based on bulb yield response and economic returns, it was
recommended to apply 43 kg.N/ha + 43 kg P2O5/ha for onions grown at
plant population of 90 plants/m2 in the area northwest of Kassala.
Proceedings of the Meetings of the National Crop Husbandry Committee 37th (2005) pp. 32-41
Proceedings of the Meetings of the National Crop Husbandry Committee - Sudan
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