Effect of planting method on onion (Allium cepa L.) bulb production in Faridpur region of Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effective planting method for onion production for motivating onion producing farmers in Faridpur region of Bangladesh during rabi season 2014-15 and 2015-16 at spices Research Sub-centre, Faridpur. The number of treatment was four viz., Raised bed + Spices Research Centre (SRC) recommended practice, Raised bed + Farmer’s practice, Flat method + Spices Research Centre (SRC) recommended practice and Flat method + Farmer’s practice. The onion variety BARI Piaz^-1 used as planting material. The SRC recommended practice consist of seed sowing at 2nd week of November + seedlings transplanting at the end of December + Spacing (10cm × 10cm) + Irrigation (4times) + weeding (four at 15, 25, 45 and 60 DAT) + Fungi-cide application with Rovral and Ridomil gold (four spray when disease appears) + Insecticide application (2-3 spray when/before thrips / insect appears) + Fertilizer doses (cow dung 5 ton ha^-1, N120, P54, k75 and S20 kg ha^-1. On the other hand farmer’s practice consist of seed sowing at last week of November in flat seed bed + seedling transplanting at 3rd week of January + Spacing (10cm × 7cm) + Irrigation (2-3 times) + Weeding (2times) + Fungicide application with Rovral, Score and other type of ineffective fungicide at 5-7 days interval + insecticide application with Confidor after thrips / insect appears + Fertilizer doses (N46, P45, k30 and S16 kg ha^-1. The results of the study revealed that planting method and management practices had significant impact on yield and yield attributes of onion and among the treatments the highest yield was found from Raised bed + SRC recommended practice. Significantly highest yield 14.42 t ha^-1 in 2014-15 and 12.57 t ha^-1 in 2015-16 was recorded from SRC recommended practice. The lowest yield 8.05 t ha^-1 in 2014-15 and 7.66 t ha^-1 in 2015-16 was recorded from Flat method + Farmer’s practice. Therefore, the farmers of Faridpur region of Bangladesh are advised to adopt SRC recommended practice with raised bed method for increasing their annual average onion production