Onion seed productivity, nutrient use, and quality response to drip fertigation in semi-arid India

Abstract

Crop productivity and nutrient use are mainly water restricted in semiarid regions. This study was conducted to find out whether the onion seed crop productivity could be elevated through drip fertigation. The effects of irrigation and fertigation levels on yield, yield components, quality and nutrient use of onion seed crop (Allium cepa L.) were investigated at MPKV Rahuri, western India on a sandy clay loam soil. Irrigation water applied at evapotranspiration (ETc) levels of 80% (I 1 ), 90% (I 2 ) and 100% (I 3 ) whereas, drip fertigation levels 60 %, 80 %, 100 % and 120 % of recommended dose (120:60:60 nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (NPK )kg/ha) were investigated. Three-year experiment results showed no significant differences in number of seed/umbel, seed yield/umbel /plant, seed and straw yield ha −1 from the comparison between 100 % ETc and 90 % ETc. In fertigation, 120 and 100 % levels gave significantly higher values of yield components and seed yield than the 80 % and 60 % levels. The quality parameters were decreased with decrease in ETc, but, increased with increase in fertigation levels. Fertilizer use efficiency was highest in 60 % fertigation and then declined with the increase in fertigation levels. Irrigation at 100 % ETc and fertigation @ 120 % resulted into higher nutrient use but the Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 15:03 14 June 2016 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT2 difference with 90 % ETc and 100 % fertigation was non significant. The 90 % ETc and 100 % fertigation dose (120:60:60 NPK kg/ha) appears a useful practice to increase onion seed productivity under the semi arid climate of western India.

Effects of saline water and N levels on eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) fruit yield, water productivity, and nitrogen use efficiency by drip and surface flood irrigation

“…Similarly, IM1 significantly improved the WP and NUE by 127.6% and 23.8% than IM2. Unlukara et al (2010) and Dingre et al (2012) supported the study and found that a drip system results in water-savings and increased water use efficiency over surface flood irrigation. As a result, increasing the irrigation water salinity reduced the nutrient uptake up to 47% (N), 21.7% (P), 18.1% (K) as well as the WP by 42%.…”

Effect of Salicylic Acid Application on Growth and Development of Green Onions Grown Under Salt Stress

“…Irrigation was resume two days after SA treatment. Fertigation was applied according to recommended rate only for the first stage of the growth (Dingre et al, 2016). Weed and pest management was carried out as required.…”

“…Many studies examined the response of plant to SA under salt stress (Pradhan et al, 2016;Singh andRoy, 2016 andWani et al, 2017). Different plant species at different growth stages influenced differently to abiotic and biotic stress under the effect of SA application (Dingre et al, 2016;El-Katony et al, 2019;Mohammadi et al, 2019 andSingh andRoy, 2016). In addition to the defense mechanism against pathogen, SA play a big role to enhance antioxidant system in the plant, and also regulate cell growth and enlargement (Bhasker et al,2020;Li et al, 2014 andVanacker et al, 2001).…”