Evaluating the suitability of planting position of multiplier onion bulb for mechanized planting during Kharif and Rabi season

Aggregated or multiplier type onion is grown extensively in Southern states of India and is propagated through bulbs.The production of small onions is 12-16 tonnes/ha in a duration of 70 to 90 days.Presently Aggregatum onion manually planted the root portion oriented downwards as pressed into an irrigated ield on the ridge and furrows system.In recent days farmers shifted to a raised bed method of cultivation to adopt a micro irrigation system.Manual planting of onion bulbs is highly labor-intensive due to the close plant geometry among the vegetable crops.Generally, about 80-100 man-days are required to plant one hectare of onion at a spacing of 15 cm with row to-row and plant to-plant spacing of 10 cm.Hence development of an onion bulb planter is required and in the case of a mechanical planter, there is a possibility of four planting positions of onion bulbs.Hence, an experiment was carried out at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru to evaluate the suitability of the planting position of multiplier onion bulbs for mechanized planting during the Kharif and Rabi seasons A raised bed of 47 m in length and 0.9 m in width was formed manually, and .onion bulbs were planted with row to-row spacing of 15 cm and plant to-plant spacing of 10 cm.The experiment has four treatments viz., a) root portion down, b) root portion up, c) horizontal and d) inclined with 5 replications, and a randomized block design was th th imposed.The growth parameters namely i) germination percentage at the 7 and 15 DAP (Days after planting), ii) Plant height at th th the 15 and 30 DAP, and yield were observed.The results were statistically analyzed.It was observed that the growth parameters were on par in all three treatments (a, c, and d) except in treatment (b).