<div>Onion is one of the most important commercial crops in India which is used as a vegetable, spice and rich in medicinal properties. In India major onion producing states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. In South India onion is cultivated three times in a year as rabi, kharif and late kharif crop whereas, in North India it is generally cultivated as rabi crop. Major portion (60%) of onion produce comes from rabi season while kharif and late kharif crops contributes to a little extent (40%) in some parts of country. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan are major kharif onion producing states. Rabi onion is generally harvested in April-May whereas kharif onion and late kharif is harvested in the month of October-November and January-February, respectively. Major portion of rabi season produce is stored upto October month for domestic consumption. There is a critical gap in supply of onion from the months of October to December. Therefore, kharif onion plays an important role not only in fulfilling consumers demand but also in controlling market price of onion. So far kharif onion production in India is limited to three four states only and it should be prioritized in other states too by keeping in view its importance. Various research perspectives, challenges and management strategies involved in kharif onion production has been reviewed in this article.</div>

Kharif Onion Production in India- Present Status and Future Potential: A Review

<div style="text-align: justify;">The field experiment entitled &ldquo;Effect of soil and foliar application of silicon on soil nutrient availability, uptake, yield and quality of kharif onion&rdquo; was conducted during Kharif 2016 &ndash; 2017 at Post Graduate Institute research farm, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri with a view to study the effect of levels of silicon on growth, yield, and quality of kharif onion.The investigation was carried out in &nbsp;Randomized Block Design (RBD), fourteen treatments combinations comprised of soil application of three levels of calcium silicate (50, 100 and 150 kg Si ha-1) and three concentration of silicic acid (SA) 1, 2, and 3 ppm through foliar spray. Two treatments absolute control and GRDF were taken for comparison having 0 kg Si ha-1. The neck thickness, equatorial diameter, polar diameter and, total yield of bulbs and straw yield of onion were recorded. The chemical properties viz. pH, EC and OC showed significantly influenced due to application of silicon. In case of treatment T14 recorded significantly superior pH, EC and OC (8.35, 0.54 and 0.60 % respectively). The treatment T14 recorded significantly highest polar diameter (5.55cm), equatorial diameter (5.94cm), neck thickness ( 0.88 cm) highest weight per bulb (83.50 g), bulb yield (37.50 t ha-1) and straw yield (2.40 q ha-1) respectively. It is concluded that treatment (T14) was found beneficial for maintaining soil fertility, for enhance crop growth and for increase yield and yield contributing character of onion on shallow soil.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Study on effect of soil and foliar application of silicon on growth, yield and quality on kharif onion (allium cepa l.)</div>

Genetic variability, correlation coefficient and path coefficient were studied in onion involving 23 genotypes. High estimates of PCV were recorded in marketable bulb yield, total bulb yield, collar height and average bulb weight. While, GCV were highest in marketable bulb yield and total bulb yield. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean were observed for total bulb yield, marketable bulb yield, average bulb weight and collar height. Correlation coefficient analysis revealed that total bulb yield had positive significant correlation with number of leaves/plant, plant height, collar height, polar and equatorial diameter of bulb, average bulb weight and marketable bulb yield. Path coefficient analysis revealed that number of leaves/plant, plant height, leaf thickness, TSS, polar and equatorial diameter of bulb, average bulb weight and marketable bulb yield exhibited positive direct effect on total bulb yield. In addition to this, neck thickness, collar height and leaf length showed negative direct effect on total bulb yield at phenotypic levels and could be utilized as selection criteria in onion improvement programme for Chhattisgarh plains.

GENETIC VARIABILITY, CORRELATION AND PATH COEFFICIENT ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT KHARIF ONION GENOTYPES IN CHHATTISGARH PLAINS

Background: The increasing pressure on land resources, climate variability and need for sustainable intensification, cultivating pulses with fingermillet appears as a practical and ecologically sound strategy in rainfed agriculture. Legume inclusion provides sustainability to non-legume cereal components by enriching soil fertility, increasing system productivity and economic returns. Fingermillet + pulses intercropping system helps to conserve moisture, improve soil physical properties and buildup soil fertility. 
 
Methods: A field experiment was conducted in randomized block design on the Experimental Farm of the College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Science, CAU(I), Kyrdemkulai, Meghalaya during kharif season of 2023 and 2024 to assess the performance of fingermillet + kharif pulses intercropping system as well as growth and yield behaviour of intercrop kharif pulses viz., greengram and blackgram as intercrops with different row ratios.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Among the fingermillet + greengram intercropping treatments, the highest value of growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of greengram were found with fingermillet + greengram at 3:3 row ratio followed by 2:2. Similarly, under differnent fingermillet + blackgram intercropping treatments, 3:3 row ratio recorded highest values of growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of blackgram. However, fingermillet + greengram at 4:2 row ratio registered significantly more FMEY (3.2 t ha-1) and LER (1.34) as compared to sole fingermillet among the different fingermillet pulses intercropping system. Furthermore, fingermillet + kharif pulses intercropped treatments were able to maintain higher levels of available soil N after completion of the two years experiment.&nbsp;

Growth and Yield of Intercrop Kharif Pulses and Performance of Fingermillet + Kharif Pulses Intercropping System as Influenced by Different Row Ratios

Background: Nutrient management and cropping sequence are two important factors which affect productivity and profitability of crop. Profitability is one the important part of the successful crop production. Soybean fixes atmospheric nitrogen in soil and partially fulfills the nitrogen requirement of succeeding crops. There is a need for a suitable substitute crop or cropping systems after soybean to improve the soil fertility and productivity to maximize the profitability. The plains of Maharashtra are well suited for onion and potato cultivation. There is scope for increasing the area, production and productivity of onion and potato crop. Majority of farmers in Maharashtra following soybean-wheat and soybean-chickpea crop sequence while in present investigation soybean is grown in sequence with vegetable crop such as onion and potato which could help to increase profitability through higher net return and B: C ratio.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. Six combinations of two crop sequences (soybean-onion and soybean-potato) and three levels of nutrient management viz., 50% RDF+FYM 5 t ha-1+ biofertilizer (N1), 75 % RDF+ FYM 5 t ha-1+ biofertilizer (N2) and 100 % RDF+ FYM 5 t ha-1+ biofertilizer (N3) were the main plot treatments in kharif season replicated three times in randomized block design. During rabi season each main plot treatment of nutrient management level was split into three sub plot treatments with three levels of recommended dose of fertilizer viz., 75% RDF (F1), 100% RDF (F2) and 125% RDF (F3) to rabi season crops resulting in eighteen treatment combinations replicated three times in split plot design. The data pertaining to growth characteristics, yield characteristics, economics of soybean (kharif) and onion or potato (rabi) was collected at regular interval in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20&nbsp; at Agronomy Farm, Dr. PDKV, Akola which was analyzed statistically in SPD (split plot design). 
 
Result: Soybean-onion crop sequence registered higher profitability in terms of GMR, NMR and B: C in comparison with soybean - potato crop sequence. Soybean crop supplied with 100%&nbsp; RDN+ 5 t FYM ha-1&nbsp;+ Biofertilizer (Rhizobium japonicum+ PSB+ Tricoderma viridi) recorded highest GMR, NMR and B:C ratio over lower levels of treatments in all year experimentation. Rabi crops treated with 125% RDF recorded GMR, NMR and B:C ratio over lower levels of treatments in all years of experimentation.

Impact of Levels of Nutrient Management on Economics of Soybean-onion and Soybean-potato Cropping System

The bulbous vegetable onion Allium cepa Var. aggregatum L. (2n=16) is the most important species of Allium group and is regarded as the single most important vegetable spices as it forms an indispensable part of many diets, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Onion is valued for its bulbs having characteristic odour, flavor and pungency. Onion is regarded as a highly export oriented crop and earns a valuable foreign exchange for the country. Weeds are of great menace as they interfere with production of crop and add to the cost of cultivation. The reduction in crop yield has direct correlation with weed competition. Onion exhibits greater susceptibility to weed competition as compared to other crops due to its inherent characteristics such as their slow growth, small stature, shallow roots and lack of dense foliage. The effective weed control involves identification of weed flora, method of weed control and judicious combination of effective weed control methods. Hand weeding in onion is a common practice in India, but it is a tedious, expensive and time consuming task due to closer spacing and shallow root system. Non-availability of labourers during critical period of crop makes hand weeding difficult leading to heavy yield losses. Spraying of pre-emergence herbicides keeps the crop in weed free conditions during the early stages. At later stage, second flush of weeds will affect the bulb formation. Hand weeding helps to keep the weed population below economic threshold level throughout the crop growth period. Pre-emergence combined with hand weeding may be costly because of the reduced labour availability and higher labour cost. After bulb formation manual or mechanical methods of weed control will damage the bulb. Application of early post emergence may be helpful to reduce damage to the bulb, weed competition and cost of weeding. Hence a brief review was presented to find out the effect of different weed management method in onion.

Weed management in onion: A review

<div style="text-align: justify;">India is the second largest producer of onion in the world next after China. Mechanization of farming is increasing day by day to produce yield of crop for gaining the profit. This study was related to the development of an onion bulblet planter for vertisol. The development and fabrication of different furrow opener for matching to the existing inclined plate metering device for planting of onion bulblet. The performance of onion bulblet planter in term of depth and width of planting, missing index percentage, multiple percentage, seed damage , actual field capacity and field efficiency. The result indicated that the field efficiency was maximum 83.33% with minimum seed damage 10.2%. Multiple index was 5.1%, missing index was 2.2 % and bulb to bulb spacing was 10.66 cm in chisel type furrow opener at 1.8 km/h speed with moisture content 17.2 %.&nbsp;</div>

Development and performance evaluation of an onion bulblet planter for vertisol

<div>Background: Inclusion of high value vegetable crops like onion and potato in soybean based crop sequence may help to improve the productivity and profitability on sustainable basis. Nutrient management and cropping sequence are two important factors which affect productivity and profitability of crop. As such, information on soybean followed by onion and potato is lacking and it will be very useful for exploring the productivity and profitability of soybean followed by high value vegetable crop sequence.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The data pertaining to growth characteristics, yield characteristics, gross monetary returns and net monetary returns of Soybean (kharif) and Onion or Potato (rabi) was collected at regular interval in 2017-18, 2018-19 at Agronomy Farm, Dr. PDKV, Akola which was analyzed statistically in RBD (Randomized Block Design) and SPD (Split Plot Design).</div>

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<div>Result: S1- soybean-onion recorded more production efficiency than S2- soybean-potato. S1- soybean-onion reported greater economic efficiency than S2- soybean-potato. Soybean crop supplied with IN3 (100% RDN applied with FYM@ 5 t per ha and biofertilizer) registered highest production efficiency and economic efficiency than IN1 ( 50% RDN applied with FYM5 t per ha and biofertilizer) to soybean and found at par with IN2 (75% RDN applied with FYM5 t per ha and biofertilizer) to soybean. Rabi crop (onion/potato) supplied with F3&nbsp; (125% RDF) level registered significantly greater production and economic efficiency than lower levels of recommended dose nutrient.</div>

Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management Levels on Soybean and its Residual Effect on Production Efficiency and Economic Efficiency under Soybean-Onion and Soybean-Potato Cropping System

<div>Background: Onion (Allium cepa L.) is an important and indispensable item of every kitchen. It is used as a vegetable, spice and condiment and commands an extensive internal market. Even though onion is one of the major crops in India, its cultivation is not yet popular in Kerala. Successful onion production depends on the selection of varieties that are adapted to different conditions imposed by specific environment and best planting time. In this background, the current study aimed to evaluate five onion varieties in the tropical planes of Kerala and also to study the effect of different planting time and varieties on the performance of onion in Kerala. 
 
Methods: Five onion varieties were evaluated in four different dates of planting with an interval of fifteen days. Planting commenced from 10th November to 25th December 2017 in a split plot design with four replications. Yield attributing characters such as number of leaves per plant, leaf length, bolting percentage, neck thickness, bulb weight and yield were noted. 
&nbsp; 
Result: All the parameters showed a significant variation over different dates of planting. There was a significant variation in number of leaves per plant, leaf length, bolting percentage, total bulb yield and neck thickness among the varieties. Interaction effect of varieties and dates of planting was significant only for leaf length and total bulb yield. Highest bulb weight was recorded in 25th Nov. planting. Highest yield was recorded in 25th Nov. which was on par with 10th Dec. and 10th Nov. plantings. Arka Kalyan recorded a highest yield, which was statistically on par with Agrifound Dark Red and Arka Pragati. Varieties when planted on 25th Dec. recorded a lowest neck thickness. Agrifound White exhibited a non-bolting behavior in all the dates of planting. Overall performance and yield of onion was found to be better when planting was done on 25th November.</div>

<div>Effect of Varieties and Planting Time on the Performance of Onion under Tropical Planes of Kerala</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">Background: Seed is an important component and the quality seed plays a crucial role in agricultural production as well as in the national economy. Availability of viable and vigorous seeds at the planting time is important. Onion seeds have a short life span among the vegetable crops and lose viability rapidly after harvest. The main reason for the low quality of onion seeds includes a long flowering period resulting in different stages of seed maturity in the umbel, very fast reduction of viability if stored in suboptimal conditions and seed infestation with fungi. Seed priming is a widely used technique to enhance seed performance during storage. 
 
Methods: The seed was primed with Neem leaf powder (100 g/kg) after hydration and dehydration, hydration with KH2PO4 (2.0%), KNO3 (1.0%), K2SO4 (1.0%) and Captan (N-trichloromethylthio-4-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboximide) at 2.5 g/kg and stored in polyethylene (100&micro;) bags under ambient conditions. After each treatment, seeds were dried back to their original moisture content under shade.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Result: The results revealed that different priming treatments had a significant effect on germination percentage, seedling length and vigour index-I except for moisture percentage in both the years. The maximum germination (74.1 and 71.2%) was observed in seeds treated with Captan (2.5 g/kg) followed by Neem leaf powder 100 g/kg seed (71.1 and 69.72%) during 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively. The onion seeds primed with KH2PO4 (2.0%), KNO3 (1.0%) and K2SO4 (1.0%) had an adverse effect on seed germination. The germination decreased significantly with the increase in the storage period. The maximum seedling emergence (60.0%) was observed from the seed primed with Captan (2.5 g/kg) followed by Neem leaf powder 100 g/kg seed (56.1%).&nbsp;</div>