SEED YIELD AND QUALITY OF ONION AS AFFECTED BY PLANTING TIME AND NUTRIENTS

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at central farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207 during the period from November 2019 to April 2020 to evaluate the seed yield and quality of onion as affected by planting time and nutrients. The treatment consisted of two factors viz. Factor A: three planting time; (i) T 1 (1 November) (ii) T 2 (10 November) and (iii) T 3 (20 November) and Factor B: four levels of nutrients; (i) N 0 (NPKS; standard dose), (ii) N 1 (50% NPKS + 50% vermicompost), (iii) N 2 (50% NPKS + 50% mushroom spent compost) and (iv) N 3

(50% vermicompost + 50% mushroom spent compost). The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. A significant variation among the treatments was found while different planting time and different levels of nutrients applied in different combinations. The highest number of umbel per plant (3.25), number of seeds per umbel

(606.40), 1000 seed weight (3.50 g), seed yield per plant (3.47 g), seed yield per plot (138.70 g) as well as seed yield per ha (770.60 kg) was recorded from T 2 N 1 (10 November with 50% NPKS + 50% Vermicompost) whereas the lowest was from T 3 N 3 (20 November with 50% Vermicompost + 50% Spent mushroom compost). Considering seed quality, all the parameters were significantly affected by combined effect of different planting time and different levels of nutrients. T 2 N 1 gave the highest seed germination (86.33%), shoot length (9.67 cm), root length (4.56 cm) and seed vigor index (1228.00) whereas T 3 N 3 (20 November with 50% vermicompost + 50% spent mushroom compost) showed the lowest results. Considering results of the experiment, planting time at 10 November along with 50% NPKS + 50% Vermicompost are the best for producing better yield and higher quality of onion seed.

keywords: quality seed, production, nutrients, vermicompost, mushroom spent compost.