ArticlePDF Available

Nursery management in onion

October 2017

Authors:

Yogesh Khade

Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research

Arunachalam Thangasamy

ICAR-Directorate Of Onion and Garlic Research

Pranjali Harischandra Ghodke

Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research

In India, onion is the most important crop mainly planted by two methods, viz. direct seeding and transplanting. The area under direct seeding is less (10-15%) compared to transplanting (85-90%). In onion production, nursery management is the most important practice to produce healthy seedlings suitable for transplanting in kharif, late-kharif and rabi season. Since onion is raised by raising nursery and transplanting of nursery, proper care must be taken for producing healthy seedlings. Therefore, site selection, soil and climatic conditions, nursery bed preparation, seeds and sowing, water management, weed management, nutrient management, use of shade and plant-protection measures should be considered properly.

Content uploaded by Yogesh Khade

Content may be subject to copyright.

November–December 2017

COMPONENTS OF NURSERY

Site Selection

The nursery site should be nutrient rich soil,

near to water source and free from soil pathogens

and insects.The site should be gently slopy and away

from other tall crops. This is important for good

drainage as well as to encourage air circulation.

TechnologyTechnology

Technology

Yogesh P Khade, A Thangasamy and

Pranjali Ghodke

Nursery management in onion

In India, onion is the most important crop mainly planted by two methods, viz.

direct seeding and transplanting. The area under direct seeding is less (10-

15%) compared to transplanting (85-90%). In onion production, nursery

management is the most important practice to produce healthy seedlings

suitable for transplanting in kharif, late-kharif and rabi season. Since onion is

raised by raising nursery and transplanting of nursery, proper care must be

taken for producing healthy seedlings. Therefore, site selection, soil and climatic

conditions, nursery bed preparation, seeds and sowing, water management,

weed management, nutrient management, use of shade and plant-protection

measures should be considered properly.

Soil

The soil should be well drained, fertile, loam to

sandy loam, lose and friable and rich in organic

matter. The optimum soil pH should be 6.0-7.5. Soil

preparation need a deep cultivation of nursery land

either by soil turning, ploughing by spade and

subsequent 2-3 hoeing with cultivator. The soil

should be free from clods, stones, and weeds.

Soil Treatment

Soil solarization is the important treatment which

reduces soil borne diseases. It should be done in

hot summer months when temperature rises up to

40°C with 200 gauge transparent polythene sheet

which can be spread over nursery area for 5-6 weeks.

Wet soil should be used to cover margins of the

polythene sheet to avoid the entry of air. Solarization

is less effective on sandy soil, which drains faster

and produces less steam. So, soil should be moistened

before solarization. Application of the fungicides

like Captan or Thiram @ 5-6 g/m2 of area kills the

pathogens effectively. Besides, application of

Trichoderma viride @ 1.25 kg/ha is also recommended

to manage damping off and raise healthy seedlings

before sowing.

Onion nursery after solarization

Season

Season Time of seed sowing Time of transplanting

Maharashtra and Gujarat

Kharif May-June July-August

Late Kharif August-September October-November

Rabi October-November December-January

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

Early-kharif April-May May-June

Kharif May-June July-August

Rabi September-October November-December

Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

Kharif June-July July-August

Rabi October-November December-January

West Bengal and Odisha

Kharif June-July August-September

Late-kharif August-September October-November

Rabi September-October November-December

Hilly areas

Rabi September-October October-November

Summer (long November-December February-March

day type)

Varieties

Season Recommended varieties

Kharif Bhima Super, Bhima Raj, Bhima Red, Bhima Dark

Red, Arka Kalyan, Agrifound Dark Red, Baswant 780,

N-53, Bhima Shubra (White), Bhima Shweta (White)

Late-kharif Bhima Super, Bhima Red, Bhima Raj, Bhima Shakti,

Agrifound Red 1, Baswant 780, Phule Baswant,

Bhima Shubra (White)

Rabi Bhima Shakti, Bhima Kiran, Bhima Red, Bhima

Super, Agrifound Light Red, Agrifound Red 3, Arka

Niketan, Bhima Shweta (White)

Indian Horticulture

Preparation of

Nursery Bed

The nursery bed

field should be deep

ploughed with mould

board plough and the

clods should be

broken with cultivator

for 2-3 times. The

debris of previous

crops, weeds and

stones should be

removed before bed

preparation. The

nursery area should

be near to water

source for easy

irrigation. Nursery

area of about 0.05

hectare is required for

getting seedlings to transplant in one hectare farm.

A well decomposed farmyard manure (FYM) should

be applied @ 500 kg along with Trichoderma viride

@ 1.25 kg at the time of last ploughing and mixed

well in the soil. The bed should be prepared in the

east and west direction and line should be made

north to south on the beds.

Raised nursery beds: To raise nursery on drip or

sprinkler irrigation system, a raised bed of about 15

cm height, 1.2 m width and length as per

convenience should be prepared. If drip or sprinkler

irrigation system is not available, raised beds of

1.0-1.2 m width and 5-6 m length should be

prepared. The furrow

should be made on all the

sides of the bed to apply

irrigation water for

nursery. Generally, raised

bed is recommended over

flat bed for raising

nursery to avoid washing

away of seeds and

drainage related problems.

Seeds and Sowing

Seed rate: The seeds

of about 5-7 kg having

more than 70%

germination are

recommended to raise

seedlings for one hectare

farm. Good quality seeds and proper nursery

management practices reduces seed rate to 4-5 kg/

ha. Seed treatment: The seeds of onion should be

treated with thiram/captan/carbendazim @ 2-3 g/kg

of seed to avoid soil and seed-borne diseases.

Seed sowing: Line sowing is the best method of

sowing in the nursery. Lines are made 0.5-1 cm

deep parallel to the width at the distance of 5 cm

from the line. The seeds are sown in lines at 50- 75

mm apart to facilitate

proper growth,

removal of seedlings

for transplanting,

quick weeding,

spraying of pesticides

etc. After sowing,

cover seeds with fine

mixture of soil,

powdered FYM or

vermicompost for

proper and uniform

germination followed

by light watering.

Nutrient

management: Along

with 500 kg well-

decomposed FYM,

NPK fertilizer @

2:1:1 kg/500 m2 need

to be applied before sowing in nursery followed by

1 kg N at 20 days is recommended for producing

healthy seedlings.

Weed control: Timely weeding is very important

practice to get the healthy seedling. Application of

pre-emergence herbicide pendimethalin @ 2 ml/l water

is recommended on nursery bed after the seed

sowing followed by one hand weeding 20 days after

sowing.

Water management: In onion, the nursery bed

requires light irrigation till the seed germination.

Once the seed gets germinated, irrigation should be

given as per requirement either through drip or

sprinkler system. Excess

rainwater or irrigated

water should be drained

out from the field as and

when required to avoid

the mortality of seedlings.

Generally, frequent

irrigation is required in

hot weather and no

irrigation during rainy

days (if rainfall > 2.5

mm).

Mulching: Usually in

kharif season, nursery is

sown during May-June

when temperature is high

and humidity is low. It is

very difficult to raise the

seedlings due to scorching sunlight so that the

mortality of seedlings will be high. Mulching with

any organic sources, i.e. paddy straw, sugarcane trash

helps in maintaining soil moisture until seed

germination during hot weather. After seed

germination, mulch material should be removed

carefully to avoid any damage to emerging plumules.

It should be removed during evening hours to avoid

harmful effects of bright sunlight on newly emerging

seedlings.

Onion nursery under shade net

Onion nursery with drip irrigation system

November–December 2017

given 2-3 days before for easy uprooting without

damaging the roots. In kharif season, seedlings will

be available for transplanting in 35-40 days after

sowing (DAS); similarly 45-50 DAS for late kharif

season and 50-55 DAS for rabi season. During

transplanting, one third of seedling top should be

cut to get good establishment. The roots of seedlings

should be dipped in carbosulfan (2 ml/l) and

carbendazim (1 g/l) for two hours to reduce the

incidence of pests and fungal diseases during the

establishment.

SUMMARY

Onion is mainly planted by transplanting method

so, production of healthy seedlings is the most

important practice. By adopting these techniques,

we can easily produce a well maintained nursery

which gives better seedlings required for

transplanting.

For further interaction, please write to:

Drs YDrs Y

Drs Yogesh P Khade, A Thangasamy and Pogesh P Khade, A Thangasamy and P

ogesh P Khade, A Thangasamy and Pogesh P Khade, A Thangasamy and P

ogesh P Khade, A Thangasamy and Pranjaliranjali

ranjaliranjali

ranjali

Ghodke (Scientists),Ghodke (Scientists),

Ghodke (Scientists), ICAR-Directorate of Onion

and Garlic Research, Rajgurunagar 410505, Pune,

Maharashtra.

Use of shade nets: They are used to protect

seedlings from direct sunlight and rainfall. If high

temperature (>35°C) prevails during nursery periods,

the beds should be covered 50-60% by shade nets

with green hessian sheets at about 100-120 cm above

ground by using suitable support. During rainy

season, transparent polythene sheets in place of shade

nets can be used to protect seedlings from rains.

Plant protection: It is important to apply plant

protection measures at right time in the nursery to

control the incidence of insect pests and diseases

and to get healthy seedlings. Any sticker @ 0.5 ml/

l should be added during spray of pesticides.

During severe infestation of thrips, foliar

application of fipronil (1 ml/l) or profenophos (1

ml/l) or Carbosulfan (2 ml/l) is recommended.

In onion nursery, damping off and stemphyllium

are the common diseases. To control soil borne

diseases, drenching with benomyl @ 0.2% is

recommended while foliar application of mancozeb

(2.5 g/l) or tricyclozole

(1 g/l) or hexaconazole (1 ml/l) controls foliar

diseases such as Stemphyllium.

Transplanting: Before uprooting the seedlings of

onion from the nursery, a light irrigation must be

Onion nursery with sprinkler irrigation system

An Overview of Hybrid Seed Production in Onion

Chapter

Mar 2025

Onion is widely cultivated as a high-value spice and vegetable for culinary and medicinal purposes, dating back to 5000 years. Mediterranean regions harbor huge diversity for its cultivated and wild forms. From there, it has been spread to the different parts of the world and has become an important vegetable in everyday diet. Therefore, its production needs to keep pace of the increasing population. In the past, open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) have dominated onion production statistics. Hybrid varieties provide an excellent alternative to achieve substantial yield improvements by exploitation of heterosis. Commercial hybrids development majorly relies on availability of stable male sterile system and suitable inbreds. A report of cytoplasmic male sterility in the early 1930s has opened immense scope for exploiting heterosis and increasing yield potential through hybrid varieties. The popularity of hybrid onion has shown steady growth and is still growing in various regions around the world. However, hybrid development in onion is posed by difficulties such as high cross-pollination and inbreeding depression. Nevertheless, hybrids have outperformed OP varieties in several cases. Currently, many developed countries have shifted to hybrid onion cultivation, but developing countries are still moving in that direction. Therefore, global onion seed market is expanding. Seed production with quality control standards to provide legal framework for developed hybrids is the need of the hour.

ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.

Nursery management in onion

Abstract

Recommended publications

Integrated nutrient management in onion and garlic

Integrated nutrient management in onion and garlic

Nutrient management in onion n garlic Review

Onion production technology for kharif onion