Onion Production Plan

Land Preparation and Sowing Method

Onion is most widely cultivated popular vegetable species. It is used for culinary purpose also it has several non-culinary use like it is used as Moth repellent because of its pungent odor, it is used to polish glass and copperware, onion concentrated water can be spray on plants to increased plants pest resistance. Onion dissolves fat deposits in blood vessels and protects against heart diseases and blood pressure.

Soil Type:

It can be cultivated on various soil types such as sandy loam, clay loam silt loam and heavy soils. It gives best result when grown in deep loam and alluvial soils with good drainage, moisture holding capacity and sufficient organic matter. Loose and sandy soils are not suitable for cultivation as bulb produce in such soil are deformed with low shelf life, pH of soil should be 6 to 7.

Land Preparation:

Give three to four deep ploughing and bring soil to fine tilth. Add well decomposed cow dung to increase organic content of soil. Then level the soil and divide into small plots and ridges.

Time of Sowing:

Optimum time for raising nursery is mid of October to mid of November month. Seedlings are ready for transplantation in mid of December to Mid of January month. For transplanting, select 10-15 cm long healthy seedlings.

Row to Row Distance: Row to row spacing 15 cm.

Plant to Plant distance: plant to plant spacing should be 7.5 cm.

Seed Rate:

For Nursery: 3-4 kg seed /acre
For Broadcast: 6-9kg seed /acre
For Bulbs: 500-550kg/ acre

Nursery Sowing and Transplanting Time

Area	Nursery Sowing Time	Transplanting Time
Punjab(Hilly Area)	March, April	May – June
Punjab(Plan Area)	July, Oct, Nov	Aug, Sep and Jan, Feb
KPK	Oct, Nov	Dec, Jan
Lower Sindh	July, August	Aug, Sep
Sindh(Other Areas)	Oct	Dec, Jan

Nursery Transplantation:

Irrigate the field lightly before 2-3 hours of nursery transplantation.
Do not shift diseased and weak plants at the time of transplanting.
Transplant seedlings in morning or evening.

Approved Varieties

Onion varieties can be classified based on colour, fragrance, storage period, growth habbit (short day, medium and long days).
Short and medium days varieties of onion are successful in Pakistan.
Phulkara and desi red are popular varieties of Sindh and Punjab.

Fertilizer Management

Fertilizer Name	Time of Application	Dose / acre	Method
DAP SOP(50kg bag) Potassium Humate 47%	At the time of Land Preparation	1.5 -2 bag 1 bag 8kg	Mix into the soil before transplanting
Zinc Sulphate 10%	30 days after transplanting	10 Liter	Flooding
Potassium Humate 13.5%	40-50 days after transplanting	10 Liter	Flooding
SOP (25kg bag)	At the time of Bulb formation(55-60 DAS)	12.5 Kg	Flood after mixing with Urea
Ammonium sulphate	At the time of Bulb formation(55-60 DAS)	1 bag	Flooding

Use of Zinc in Onion:

Make plants healthy by fulfilling zinc deficiency.
Improve plant growth by making soil fertile.
Increase the effectiveness of other fertilizers.
Enhance the number and quality of bulbs.
Increase the amount of chlorophyll.

Use of Potassium Humate in Onion:

Improve plant growth by making soil fertile.
Chelate the micronutrients in soil and make available to plants.
A good soil conditioner, improves soil water holding capacity and structure and solubilize fixed phosphorus.

Use of Potash in Onion:

Improves soil structure and strengthen onion roots.
Protect plants from soil born diseases.
Use of potash and Sulphur increase the Ability of onion in bulb formation.
Improved bulb size.
Increase the quality and quantity of Onion bulbs.

Irrigation

Depending upon climatic conditions and soil type decide amount and frequency of irrigation.
Apply first irrigation immediately after sowing then depending upon crop and weather condition apply irrigation with interval of 10-15 days.

Weeds Management

All kind of weeds (broad, narrow leave weeds) grow in onion crop and cause yield loss. Initially onion seedlings grow slowly. So it is better to use chemical herbicides than hand weeding to avoid injury. Two to three hoeing are recommended for weed control. First hand weeding should be done one month after sowing and second hand weeding to be done one month after first hand weeding.

Mode of Damage:

Competition for Nutrients
Competition for moisture
Competition for light
Competition for space (CO2)
Allelopathic Effect
Serve as reservoirs of pests and diseases

Chemical Control:

Weeds Type	Weedicide	Dose per acre	Time of Application
Broad and Narrow leave weeds	Pendimethalin 33% + S Metolachlore 96%	800ml+400ml	Spray after 24 hours of sowing
Broad and Narrow leave weeds	Oxyfluorfen+ Pendimethalin+ Metolachlore 50%	500ml	Spray after 24 hours of sowing
Broad and Narrow leave weeds	Oxyfluorfen	200-250ml per 120litr of water	Use after 30 days of sowing
Khabal grass + Swanki	Quizalofop-ethyl	350ml per 120litr of water	Use when weeds are at 2-4 leaf stage

Important instructions:

Never use weeds as fodder after spraying.
Do not spray in strong wind, rain or fog. Use clean water to spray.
Use a (flat fan or T-Jet) nozzle as a standard practice for spraying.
Spraying is advised to be followed after calibration of machine.

Diseases and their Management

Purple blotch:

Purple colour spots develops on the edges of leaves and black spots develop on the onion bulb.
In case of severe attack of downy mildew, the risk of attack of this disease also increases.

Downy mildew:

This disease appears as blackish hairy spots on the leaves and stems. If the weather is cold it shows a blight-like wilting pattern and yield is reduced by 60-75%. Attack of downy mildew is more common on the transplanted crop from nursery. Tips of the Old leaves turns yellow and fall off.

Stemphylium leaf blight:

When the crop is at 3-4 leaf stage, the pointed edges of the leaves are attacked. Light yellow to dark brown spots appears on the leaves.

20-24°c temperature and 70% humidity favors disease spread.

Fusarium Damping off:

Fungus attack on the roots and roots colour turns dark red and then black. The plant begins to wilt from the top. It spreads rapidly in moist and wet soils.

Pink Rot:

The roots color change from light pink to dark and finally red.
Bulbs remain small

Chemical control of diseases

Disease	Fungicide	Dose per acre	Method of application
Downy mildew, Purple blotch	Cymoxanil+Mankozeb 72% Azoxystrobin +Chlorothalonil 56% Pyraclostrobin+Metiram 60%	600g/100litr of water 350ml/100litr of water 600g/100litr of water	Spray after one month of sowing
Downy mildew	Propineb 70%	500g/100litr of water
Pink Rot, damping off,	Fosetyl aluminium 80% Thiophenate methyl	1kg/acre 2kg/acre	Flooding Flooding

Insect/Pest and their Management

Thrips:

If not controlled properly can cause yield loss up to 50%. Mostly observed in dry weather. They suck sap from the foliage and results in curling of leaves, leaves become cup shaped or curved upward.

Chemical control:

Pest	Pesticide	Dose/acre
Thrips	chlorfenapyr 36% Abamectin 1.8%	150-200ml 400ml

Maggots:

Infestation observed in January-February Month. They feed on roots causes browning of leaves.

Base of plant become watery.

Chemical control:

Emamectin + Leofenoran 3%	400ml
Emamectin benzoate 1.9%	200ml

Harvesting and Storage

Harvesting at proper time is necessary. It depends upon variety, season, market price etc. 50% neck falls is sign indicating crop is ready for harvesting. Harvesting is done manually by uprooting bulbs. After harvesting they are kept in field for 2-3 days to remove excessive moisture from bulb.