Standardization of Sowing Time of Chinese Onion (Allium chinense) for Hill Zone of Assam

Abstract

A miniature type of onion known as Chinese onion is widely grown in Karbi Anglong hill district of Assam which is used by the local tribes mainly for its medicinal value as well as in culinary purposes. A field experiment was conducted at AAU-Zonal Research Station, Diphu, Karbi Anglong, Assam with the objective to standardize the planting time of this crop. Planting was done at two-month interval during July 2020 to May 2021. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with four replications and six treatments as planting time. Data regarding growth and yield was recorded and analysed statistically. The data on growth and yield characters like Plant height(cm), No. of leaf per plant, Leaf length (cm), leaf breadth (mm), No. of cloves per bulb, bulb length(cm), bulb breadth(cm) and yield/hectare were recorded. The result revealed that plant height, number of leaves per plant, bulb length and bulb yield was significantly influenced by the planting time. The highest plant height of 19.62 cm was recorded in T2(Sept) planting, while it was lowest in T4(Jan) planting (17.65 cm). The highest number of leaves per plant was recorded in T2(Sep) planting with 8.25 followed by T1(July) planting with 8 numbers. The highest leaf length (18.37 cm) was recorded in T2 (Sept) planting followed by 17.82 cm T5(March)and 17.62 cm T3(Nov) planting respectively. The bulb length was found to be highest in September planting (T2) with 1.6 cm and the lowest was recorded in T3 (Nov) with 1.4 cm. The highest bulb yield per hectare 30.16q was obtained from T3 (Nov) planting and the lowest 17q was found in T4 (Jan)planting. From the present investigation it can be concluded that for better vegetative growth and higher yield of Chinese onion, the optimum time of planting is the month of September.