| Author(s) | Abdulaziz R. Al-Harbi |
| Affiliation | Plant Production Department, College of Agriculture King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | Effect of Irrigation Regimes on Growth and Yield of Onion (Allium cepa L.) |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Agricultural Sciences. Volume 15, No 1. (2003/1423) |
| Abstract | Abstract. Onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars were grown in two successive field experiments under three levels of applied irrigation water over two seasons of 1999 and 2000. Six onion cultivars: El-Hassawy, Contessa, Dorado, UND Grande, Yellow Spanish and Texas Early Grano 502 were grown under three levels of applied irrigation water. In the second season of (2000), Yellow Spanish cultivar was excluded due to its poor seed germination. Plants were irrigated at 120%, 80% and 40% of the total evapotranspiration based on cumulative evaporation from a water pan (free surface water). Generally, an improvement was noticed on plant growth with increasing the amounts of irrigation water. Increasing total water application from 762 to 2381 and 857 to 2095 mm resulted in total yield increases of 70% and 37.6% in the first and second seasons respectively. Average bulb weight, length and diameter were significantly increased at higher levels of irrigation water in both seasons. Relative water content (RWC) and water use efficiency (WUE) were also increased with increasing the amounts of applied water. Higher total yields (Ton/ha) were recorded for UND grand in the first season and for El-Hassawy in the second season. El-Hassawy also had a higher bulb length, double bulb % and lower bulb diameter in both seasons. No differences were observed among cultivars on RWC, while, El-Hassawy had a significant higher WUE in both seasons. Insignificant interactions were recorded between the irrigation levels and cultivars on growth and total yield of onion. |
