Growth, yield and bulb quality of onion (Allium cepa L.) in response to foliar application of boron and zinc

ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the role of boron and zinc on growth, yield and quality of onion. There were eight treatment combinations consisted of four levels of boron (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5%) and 4 levels of zinc (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5%) were applied as foliar spraying. application of 0.5% boron significantly increased the growth (plant height, 63.93cm and number of leaves per plant, 7.25), yield (30.74 t ha⁻¹) and quality (total soluble solids, 13.45 ⁰B and pyruvic acid 5.94 µmol g⁻¹) of onion. Among various levels of zinc 0.5% exhibited the best growth (plant height, 67.25cm and number of leaf per plant, 7.75), yield (33.34 t ha⁻¹) and quality (total soluble solids, 14.57 ⁰B and pyruvic acid, 5.86 µmol g⁻¹) attributes of onion. These results suggest that the foliar application of boron and zinc significantly influenced the growth, yield and quality of onion.

KEYWORDS:

• Boron
• foliar application
• onion
• zinc