Studies on different levels and scheduling of potassium on growth and yield of onion var. Agrifound Light Red in light-textured soil of Western UP

Abstract

Onion is a commercial crop and under fertilization, especially potassium is a main issue behind its lower production. By keeping this point on priority, a field experiment entitled “Studies on different levels and scheduling of potassium on growth and yield of onion (Allium cepa L.) var. Agrifound Light Red in light textured soil of Western UP” was conducted at Crop Research Centre of SVPUA&T Meerut U.P. during Rabi season of 2020-21 and 2021-22. The experiment comprised 11 treatments replicated thrice with onion cultivar Agrifound Light Red in randomized block design. The three doses of potassium i.e. 100, 125 and 150% of recommended doses through muriate of potash (MOP) were used with NPS except control for potassium. Polyhalite was also used in one of the treatment as a source of potassium. The data recorded during 30, 60, 90 DAT and at harvest for different parameters showed that the increasing dose of potassium improved growth and yield attribute including yield. The application of potassium through polyhalite as in T11 (NP + K50-100% basal through Polyhalite) increased the yield by 54.21, 35.33, 21.98 and 13.59% over T1, T2, T5, T8, respectively. The pooled data showed that maximum plant height (68.53cm) number of leaves/plant (7.55) neck thickness (14.32mm), equatorial bulb diameter (70.33mm), polar diameter (64.73mm) and fresh weight of bulb (67.06g). The overall experimental findings showed that the application of higher dose of potassium than recommended is beneficial and polyhalite was superior over muriate of potash due to additional supplement of sulphur, calcium and magnesium.