Effect of herbicides and mulches on production of onion (Allium cepa L.) in western Maharashtra

Abstract

Onion is an important horticulture commodity grown worldwide. It is one of the most important vegetable cash crops grown in India as well as in Maharashtra. It is used for both purpose as immature and mature bulbs as a vegetable and as a spice. It is also grown for their medicinal values. In India onion is grown under three crop seasons i.e. kharif (20%), late kharif (30%) and rabi-summer (50%) in a year. During 2014-15, total area under onion was 12.03 lakh hectares with a total production of 194.01 lakh tons. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujrat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the main onion growing states. The 30% area and 30% production alone come from Maharashtra. In Maharashtra it is grown on an area of 4.68 lakh hectares with 58.64 lakh metric tons production (Anonymous 2014).