Influence of micro-irrigation methods on growth, yield and storage of rabi onion

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of various irrigation methods, i.e. drip, mini sprinkler, big sprinkler and surface irrigation on the growth, yield and storage of onion cv. N-2-4-1. The highest yield was recorded in drip irrigation (47.47 t/ha) followed by big sprinkler (31.21 t/ha). The lowest yield was recorded in surface irrigation (22.79 t/ha). The plant height, percentage of big size bulbs, equatorial and polar diameter of bulbs was higher in drip irrigation method. The water use efficiency was higher in drip irrigation (770 kg per ha-cm) than micro sprinkler (344.6 kg per ha-cm), big sprinkler (386.5 kg per ha-cm) and surface irrigation (252.5 kg per ha-cm). The highest B: C ratio (1.98) was also found in drip irrigation. The storage losses after 3 and 6 months of storage were lowest in drip and surface irrigation.